


Disastrous Ever After

by Finally_Facing_Failure



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Magic, Angsty Dan Howell, Dan Howell and Phil Lester Are Teenagers, Drama & Romance, Established Relationship, Fairy Tale Elements, Fairy Tale Retellings, Friends to Lovers, How Do I Tag, Kinda, Light Angst, M/M, Magic, Minor Character Death, Mutual Pining, engagement ring shhh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 06:47:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11754312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Finally_Facing_Failure/pseuds/Finally_Facing_Failure
Summary: I don’t know how we got into this mess exactly, but I guess there’s about a 90% chance it was my idea. That’s how things usually are: I make up a ridiculous plan because I am a bored and rebellious youngster and then I drag Phil into it.~Dan and Phil live in a magical community, and decide one (drunken) night that they should break into the town's prison, to set free one of the dark creatures held there. Now they must embark on a journey through four fairy tale-like towns, to find the objects necessary to contain this dark creature. Of course, life being what it is, it doesn't go as easily as planned.





	Disastrous Ever After

I don’t know how we got into this mess exactly, but I guess there’s about a 90% chance it was my idea. That’s how things usually are: I make up a ridiculous plan because I am a bored and rebellious youngster and then I drag Phil into it. How his mother hasn’t forbidden him to talk to me, I don’t know, but I am glad she hasn’t.

In a community like ours, where magic is at the root of everything, it is vital to have a trustworthy friend. Phil and I met when we were in primary school. We had been in the same class for four months, but it wasn’t until he helped me accidently set fire to the substitute teachers dress (long story), that we decided we were friends. Anyway, back to the problem at hand.

Phil and I had been getting into trouble ever since we were little, but this may or may not have been the worst thing we’ve ever done. I mean, there was the joy-Pegasus riding, where we were almost seen by the ‘normals’. And I guess we shouldn’t forget the time where we were catching fireflies and accidently caught a fairy. But this time, it was such an uncalculated move, that it ended with both of us in a prison cell, whilst three men and one woman discussed what to do with us.

Phil and I had started drinking vodka at about nine in the evening last night. Don’t judge our life choices okay, we are going through a tough spot in life. Anyway, it had ended up with the two of us breaking into our town’s prison, which was predictably uncomplicated, seeing as it was filled with magical beings no one in their right mind would like to make acquaintance with.

So, we got in and looked around a little, before getting the grand idea of setting one of them loose. I know what you’re thinking: stupid. And yeah, it was, but we were drunk. Nobody does smart things when they’re drunk. Fight me.

And now we’re awaiting the opinion of the four most important people regarding the beast that we set loose yesterday night. I could pretend to be indifferent, but to be honest I’m scared shitless. My father is one of the four most powerful enchanters in our community. He and his three colleagues will be deciding my fate tonight. Having my dad there may seem like an advantage, but believe me, it’s not.

My father is the most conservative out of all four current rulers. His ideas are so traditional, and his power so great, that everyone is simultaneously afraid and in awe of him. He has a conservative view of the way families are supposed to work, and in his view the father is the head of the family and should be respected and obeyed.

I already know what the judgement is going to be. I’m going to have to leave, and so is Phil. Phil will never get to make a decision on Career Day, he will never graduate from College, he will never find a wife and get married, have kids. All because of me. All because I am selfish and drag him into the disaster that is my life every single day.

I’m fine leaving, would’ve probably left by myself before Career Day, which marked the beginning of college. Magical communities are so small, there were only so many jobs available. Therefore, every parent supplies a list of possible jobs for their kids, and the kids get to pick one to study. My father picked Magical Business, Magical Law and the ever exciting Magical Taxes. Yay.

If too many kids pick the same job, the rulers will make sure the kids are spread out evenly. So even if you want to be a doctor, you could be shipped off to be a teacher. If you refuse, you have to leave the community. Forever.

Thinking about this always makes me pull my greatest ‘I Hate the World and Everyone in It’ face, which is how I’m looking when Dodie Clark walked in. She shot me an amused look, before opening the cell with blood magic. “Yeah, look like that when your dad tells you your fate, I’m sure it will magically make things better.”

“Now, don’t be silly, Dodie.” I said, smiling at Phil’s second-best friend and one of the lucky kids that had to be gatekeepers last year. “There is no such thing as magic.” She smiled at me, but after a moment the smile turned sour. “You’re an idiot, you know that?” I sighed. “Yeah, don’t lecture me. I’m sure I’m about to get enough of that in a minute.” She just raised an eyebrow and let me out.

I could see Phil getting out of the cell opposite of mine, and I tried to send him a smile that sort of said ‘I’m fine, you’re fine, it’s all right, I’m sorry’, but I’m sure it just came across as creepy, because Phil diverted his eyes. Dodie then led me out of the building, toward the courthouse. We were guided to a room where half a dozen people were waiting, including my mom.

I’d expected her to be furious, but she just send me a warm smile, perhaps because she already knew my fate and was trying to comfort me. No time to think about that, I realized as I was faced with my father’s stern face. He nodded at Dodie, who pointed me toward a chair. As soon as Phil was guided to the one next to mine, Miss Pentland, the most powerful woman in our community, stated our crimes.

I had to give it to her, she managed to sound completely calm about the fact that Phil and I set an exceptionally treacherous creature loose. As soon as she finished, my dad stood up, looking me up and down before turning to Miss Pentland. “Thank you, Louise. Now, regarding the judgement of this corruption.”

I sat up a little straighter, as I always did when my dad was speaking to me. “Daniel Howell and Philip Lester have been proclaimed guilty. Normally, a delinquency this seditious would lead to immediate expulsion. However, we have made an exception, seeing as Mr Lester will most probably be filing a request to be veterinarian, and we frankly have a shortcoming on those. In view of the fact that this is an exceptional case, we are willing to grant Mr Lester and Mr Howell a second chance.”

I could not believe my ears. My father, the man that was often described as painfully just, wanted to turn his back on the law? Was he losing his mind?

“This second chance would include community service in the form of cleaning up their own mess. They will have to deal with the escaped _Pentasenumbra_.” I knew that I was not allowed to speak right now, but this task was simply outrageous. “What!? Phil and I are supposed to catch a monster that a large group of experienced hunters were barely able to control?”

My father shot me a look that was enough to make the president back off. “No. You will simply be asked to gather the necessities for confining the creature. The cage you two broke was extraordinarily precious, and it will need to be restored before we can even think of catching the _Pentasenumbra_.”

It was silent in the room. I felt everyone watching me intently, probably wanting to see my reaction. Well, this wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I’d ought to have taken Phil’s position in consideration before. Magical vets were rare, and people desperately wanted their house-dragons and other peculiar animals checked out.

My father’s right hand, a man named Mr Liguori, stood up and walked over to us. “Daniel, Philip, will you accept this as a punishment for your deeds?” I didn’t say anything, not wanting to accept without knowing Phil’s position in this. When Phil nodded his agreement, I muttered a quiet ‘yes’, not looking anyone in the eye.

“Good.” Mr Liguori nodded, looking almost sorry for us. “Please follow us outside, we will give you an hour to pack any personal belonging you’d like to take with you and say goodbye to family members.” Mr Liguori said, checking his watch nervously. “Under supervision of course.” He adds, after looking at us with suspicion written all over his features.

My father sighed, looking nearly defeated. It was a weird look on him. “Miss Pentland and I will accompany the two of you to an… expert of kinds. They will tell you all you need to know before you’ll be off to the Wilder Woods.”

I saw Phil’s head lift up at that, and I looked around in confusion. Everyone around me seemed to be in shock. My mother was talking to my dad, her voice so frantic that I instantly worried. “Come on, Harold, this is not what we agreed! These boys are only 18! They are not ready for such an environment, they have not been trained!”

My dad just stood there, until my mom stopped arguing with him. I only then realized I was being led away, Dodie’s arm around mine. I needed her stability, I wasn’t sure I could stand on my own. My mother just argued with my father in public, something must be wrong. Incredibly wrong. 

 

Saying goodbye is something that is generally described as painful and terrible, yet I’d never experienced it like that. Goodbye, for me, had never been perpetual. Goodbye had been the word I’d mutter when I was running late for school and my mom was seeing me off. It had been the word I’d say to Phil every night when we spoke on the phone. It hadn’t been like this.

Right now, goodbye was ending me. That’s what it felt like. I had absolutely no clue what the Wilder Woods were, but it must be terrible and life threatening, if it evoked such reactions. My mother was hugging me, tighter than ever, and I was hugging back just as tight. I wasn’t sure I’d see her again. What felt like seconds later, but probably was a few minutes, I was ripped from her arms. I saw her in the rear-view mirror as we drove off in my father’s jeep. This was all happening too fast…

I tried, almost desperately, to make eye contact with Phil during the drive, but he just stared out of his window, eyes obviously still wet from saying goodbye to his mother. There was a chance we wouldn’t return, that we’d die in whatever those woods were. Phil could die because of me.  
Shit.

My father’s voice woke me from my attempts to make contact with Phil. “We’ll be there in a few hours. I already called, and the two of you can stay the night at our destination, before setting off into the Wilder Woods.” My father sounded tired, and there was a glint of anger in his voice. Anger that was probably directed at me, since I got us into this mess.

Come to think of it, it was very odd that my dad hadn’t given me a full lecture on my behaviour yet. Perhaps it was because he knew that whatever we’d be facing would be punishment enough, if not too much. Despite the fact that I was extremely scared, I fell asleep in the car, but my dreams were haunted by flashes of dark trees, eyes looming on every branch.

I woke up when the car came to a stop. Disoriented, I looked around, only to find I didn’t recognise my surroundings at all. This was not even near our Community. Outside of our car were mostly trees, looming darkly over us. There was a small path on which I assumed we’d been driving, but besides that I couldn’t really see anything.

My father got out of the car, summoning fire in the palm of his hand to light our surroundings. Suddenly, lights all around us turned on. What had seemed to be a forest with a road, was actually a clearing in the woods, clearly protected by magic. I’d seen this sort of magic before loads of times. Most of the houses in our community were protected by it.

It was pretty much like an average alarm system, but then for magic. It was incredibly hard to detect magic, so most houses were only protected against magic meant to directly harm the habitants of the house. Magic cast to destruct was very dark, and therefore very easy to detect. Upon exposure to magic, the protective fields would either ring an alarm, or make all the lamps in the house light up.

I’d never seen a system that worked as camouflage though. It must’ve been incredibly hard to set up this protection, it must’ve been done by a very powerful magician. I shuddered, afraid to meet this ‘expert’ my father had been talking about. There was no time to be afraid though, as we were already walking toward the clearing.

There was a small brick path, leading toward a dilapidated house. It had two stories, each painted in a different colour, oddly enough. The upper story was painted a bright yellow, the lower one a dark blue, reminding me of the sky at a dark night. The clearing was obviously held intact by magic, as the grass was cut short and neat. There were little perks of florae everywhere, with brightly coloured plants and flowers.

My father knocked at the large, wooden door, which to my great surprise did not fall apart at that improbable amount of force. We heard a voice come from inside, yelling something I supposed was an invitation to come inside, as my dad opened the door and stepped inside.

The house was a mess. Like, imagine the least tidy person you know, and imagine their house when they haven’t had time to clean in about ten years. This house was like that, but worse. There were tables and chairs in the hallway, with piles of paper on them. The walls were covered in post-its, with random words scribbled on them. There seemed to be a few layers, at the very least.

My father walked through the first door on the right, into a room that I could barely identify as a living room. This room was no different than the hallway, apart from one couch that was in fact clean. My dad mentioned for Phil and I to sit down, which we did reluctantly. My dad just stood next to Miss Pentland, whispering quietly.

We must’ve sat there for a few minutes, waiting for something I had no idea how to prepare for. Suddenly, a person came in. They were wearing a white lab-coat, safety goggles and slippers. Their hair was black-greyish and it hang in wild curls down the person’s shoulders. They looked disordered to see us here, before remembering that we’d knocked.

My dad walked to the person (I guess I could call them The Crazy Scientist Person?) and shook their hand. “Thank you for agreeing to help us out here. You have no idea how much-“ “Yeah no problem.” Crazy Scientist Person interrupted. “These the troublemakers?” They asked, nodding their head toward us. My dad nodded sternly, seemingly unbothered by the interruption.

This was so weird. My father would never let anyone interrupt him back home, especially not a woman, assuming this person was female. It was hard to tell, as the lab-coat hid all features but the hair. The Crazy Scientist person adjusted their goggles and looked at me, squinting their eyes. “What do you know about Sea-Goats?” They asked, tilting their head.

“Uhm, I don’t. Know anything I mean.” I said. Suddenly I realized I should probably be polite to this person, as they appeared to be very powerful. “Sorry, ma’am… I mean sir. I mean… Sorry?” I stuttered, not sure what pronouns to use. The Scientist seemed taken aback by my poor attempt to be well-mannered. They quickly recovered though, and smiled at me.

“Does it matter? I’m here to save all of your asses. Call me Alex.”

I nodded, smiling a little. I saw my father tense up at my question, very apparently bothered by it. Miss Pentland tried (and failed) to hide a little giggle. Miss Pentland, unlike my father, was quite open minded, so it didn’t surprise me that she was easier in accepting Alex’ request than my father.

Alex looked at Phil, smiling slightly. “What about you? Know anything about the great Sea-Goats?” Phil looked shaken to be called upon. He didn’t like to be the centre of attention, and he snapped shut whenever a teacher called his name. “No, I don’t. Sorry.” Phil mumbled, nervously fidgeting with his fringe (black, a perfect mirror to my brown one).

“That’s all right, you seem like the sort of fella that’d actually like to learn.” Alex said, inspecting Phil with a tilted head. “Yes, yes… I think I have a book on mythical creatures, mind the term. Nothing quite mythical about them when they’re surrounding you, is there?” Alex started walking around the living room, looking through piles of paper.

The whole room looked chaotic and unorganised, but Alex seemed to know exactly what they were doing. Looking at it closely, there seemed to be a system to it, weirdly enough. The piles of paper were neatly stacked, like whoever did knew exactly where they were putting what. Alex found the book they were looking for beneath a pile of old looking files, and they held it up triumphantly.

Saying this book looked old would be an understatement. It looked ancient. It looked like Cleopatra had been reading it. It looked like a dinosaur had taken a crap on it. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating, but seriously it was old. ‘Mystical Animals: A Guide’ It said in golden letters on the front. “Here,” Alex said, shoving it in Phil’s arms. “Take this with you, okay? It’ll help.”

Phil took it with a look of pure admiration in his eyes. What a nerd. “Take this with us where?” Phil said quietly. My father stepped forward, nodding furiously. “Yes. Alex, tell them about their task. Miss Pentland and I have to leave soon, and I want to make sure the boys know what will be ahead of them.”

“Well, sir. I can tell them about the task. I can tell them about the plants they’ll have to find, I can give them a map, and I can even teach them the languages of the forest. But I _cannot_ tell them about what awaits in the Wilder Woods.” Alex said, boldly. My father sighed. “Not even the creature’s they’ll encounter?” He asked, looking defeated once again.

“Not a one. Even giving them that book is risky.” Alex mumbled, scratching their head. “They’ll be fine, sir. I once embarked upon this quest too, remember? If an old weirdo like me survives, surely these two bright youngsters will too.”

My father nodded sternly. “Well, then I guess we’d better be going. We’d like to be home before midnight.” My father said, pulling Miss Pentland with him. That was it. No goodbye, no hug or even a wave. He was gone just like that.

Alex sighed. “Always so sentimental, your dad, isn’t he?” I smiled nervously, not sure what to do or say. They seemed to notice my hesitation, and they smiled at me. “I’m sorry, you must have gotten an awful idea of who I am. I swear I’m not usually this weird, but being around people, well… It’s been a while.” Somehow I didn’t doubt that.

Phil had apparently decided to get over his fear of (let’s be honest) people, and smiled kindly at Alex. “It’s okay, we’re sorry to intrude anyway. I’m sure you didn’t mean to get into this mess.” He said that last bit with a side look to me. The first time he’s spoken to me all day, and it wasn’t even directed at me. Well, at least it’s something…

Alex smiled back at Phil, and then excitedly clapped their hands. “Oh, it’s been so long since I’ve had actual guests! Let me cook something for you, I’ve got fresh vegetables in the garden!” We awkwardly followed her into the kitchen, where plates were magically being cleaned and vegetables and potatoes floated around whilst being peeled or cleaned.

“You boys just sit at the table, ask me anything you want. I can cook and listen to your questions at the same time.” I sat down, and immediately asked the one question I did not want to ask. “Why are you living here and not in a community?” My eyes went big, and I watched as all magical activities seemed to stop for a moment. I started to apologize, but Alex shushed me.

“It’s fine Dan, can I call you Dan?” I nodded, blushing. “I live here because you father didn’t accept me in your community. I’ve been living here for almost twenty years. Next week actually.” Alex smiled sadly. “Now, when I said ask me anything, I meant anything about your task.”

I kept quiet, letting Phil do all the talking. I didn’t trust myself not to be an asshole, I hadn’t had a particular lot of evidence that I was capable of non-assholeness. Alex explained to us that there were four plants we needed to find. “I have a friend who’ll go with you. She’ll explain to you how to get the plants. I assume you guys had Magical Plant Care in school?”

I groaned, and Alex laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes. Did your classes cover _Plantes du Village_?” “No.” I said, at the same time Phil said: “Yes.” Alex laughed even louder. “Well, they’re plants you can only find in particular villages in the Wilder Woods. Each village has their own plant, and you’ll need to collect four.

Alex made a piece of paper float toward us, along with a plate of hot, steaming food each. “Thanks!” I said, immediately digging in, looking at the paper Phil had picked up. There were four plants, each as unknown to me as the next, but I was sure we’d be able to find them. They were all bright red, with different types of leaves.

Alex sat down at the table with us, chewing on a carrot. “Hm, I’ll have transportation ready for you tomorrow. There’s a room upstairs that you can use, but there’s only one bed, so I hope you don’t mind sharing. I suggest you go to bed early, you should start your quest first thing in the morning. I’m going to go and take this to my study. I have a lot of research to do tonight, I’ll have to email it before…” Alex muttered, taking her plate and walking away.

“Wait!” Phil said. “You haven’t told us what to get, besides the plants. I don’t remember the cage being made out of only plants!” Alex nodded absentmindedly. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll get those for you. If I’d actually make you do it, it’d take years!” With that soothing advice, they left the kitchen.

Phil and I had dinner in silence, with him reading the book and me trying to read his face. We then found our room in quietness, soundlessly changed into nightwear, wordlessly slid into bed and not-so-inaudibly failed to fall asleep. I listened to his uneven breathing for a while, before turning around to face him, or rather, his back.

“Phil?” I whispered, praying he wouldn’t ignore me. Phil just sighed and rolled over to face me too. “What?” “Please don’t be mad at me.” Phil’s eyes went big, and he frowned as he turned around again. “Really Phil, I’m so sorry! I should not have convinced you to drink, or to go into the prison. I am a terrible friend, I’m sorry!” I saw Phil stiffen. “Is that what you think I’m mad about?” “Is it not?” I asked, wondering what else I’d done wrong. “Just go to sleep”  
And so I did.

 

Alex hadn’t been kidding when they said we had to go first thing in the morning. She’d given us each a fruit platter for breakfast and then rushed us out of the door. She’d packed magical bags for us. They were as big as my fist, but they held clothes, food, tents and sleeping backs without weighing more than a sock. Coming outside, we were greeted by three creatures, two of which caught my attention.

“Pegasusses!” I shouted, smiling at the black, winged horses. Alex and Phil both looked at me like they were going to facepalm. “There’s only one, dear.” Alex said. I looked at the horses in confusion, clearly there were two? Phil giggled, and Alex sighed dramatically. “There’s only one Pegasus, these are Alicorns, winged unicorns!”

Only then did I notice the black horns that shone proudly on the horses’ foreheads. “Okay wow.” I said, and Alex snickered. I let my eyes slip down to the third creature, which looked like an elf with brown skin, hair and eyes, but I wasn’t going to say that out loud. “Is that a Brownie?” Phil asked, pointing at the little thing.

“DO I LOOK LIKE A BROWNIE?” The creature said, looking pretty pissed off. Phil took a step back, and took my hand. He let go immediately though, upon realizing what he’d done. Alex laughed brightly. “Because if she does, that’d be quite normal. This is Jess, my Hobgoblin!” Jess laughed, sounding a bit like a bullfrog. “Heya! Waddup?” She giggled.

“Oh, hi.” I said, frowning. “Jess will be your guide for most of your trip! She knows about the plants you need to gather, and she knows a lot about the forest, so she’s glad to help you!” Jess grimaced at Alex. “You just don’t want me in your house anymore because I ruined that _one_ pile of files _once_.” Alex just raised an eyebrow, effectively shutting the Hobgoblin up.

Jess jumped on one of the Alicorns and winked at me and Phil. “I want to ride on Sashay! Which one of you boys will join me?” Phil didn’t say anything, he just quickly walked toward the other Alicorn and climbed on it. Great, guess I was stuck with the 2ft creature currently batting her eyes at me.

“Don’t worry Dan, she won’t actually try anything.” Alex said reassuringly. Jess giggled as I sat behind her, letting her take the leash. “Thank you for helping us, Alex. We’ll try to be done with this as soon as possible.” Phil said, petting his Alicorn on the neck. “Don’t rush it though. The Woods will let you leave as soon as you’ve learned your lesson.” Alex said, effectively freaking me the heck out. What did she mean ‘the Woods will let you leave’?

Jess clicked her tongue, and off we went, into the dark forest that was apparently full of magic and wonder. Oh how I was not looking forward to this. The fact that Phil was still mad at me only made things worse. I really needed him for this, I needed my best friend.

We’d been travelling approximately five minutes, when Jess ordered Sashay to hold. “Why are we stopping?” Phil asked, frowning a bit. Jess laughed as she jumped of the Alicorn. “I don’t know how much you know about this forest, but it’s exceptionally dangerous. I’ll be here for most of the time, of course, but I won’t be able to stay for the entire time.”

“Why not?” I asked, suddenly afraid to be here alone. “You’re going to leave us here?” Jess smiled sadly, sighing. “There’s something I have to do. I leave tomorrow morning, but I want to make sure you’ll be all right without me.” Somehow I knew she was doing us a huge favour. “What do we need to know?” Phil asked, his voice determined.

“Alex gave you enough food to last a week, at the very least. I’ll be back before that with supplies, but you must know how to find water. You can use Sashay and Cavort for that, they’re be able to smell a creek from miles away. The villages you have to visit might offer you a place to sleep, but do _not_ accept that, there are people you can’t trust.”

Jess continued to teach us things all day, just in case. We learned how to recognise what plants we can eat, in case she couldn’t get to us in time. We learned how to tell the time by the shadows of the trees, and how to use the constellations in the sky to navigate, if the map she gave us should fail to give us directions. By the end of the night, we were all exhausted, and glad to set up three little tents to sleep in.

Phil was the first to retreat to his tent. Jess and I were sitting by a small fire she’d magically created. “Hey Jess? What is a Hobgoblin exactly?” I asked, looking up at her. “Do you know what Brownies are?” She asked me in return, handing me a piece of roasted bread. When I shook my head, she explained. “Most people have forgotten, but once upon a time, Brownies helped magicians with simple household chores. It was regarded as an honour if a Brownie decided you were worthy.

“But times changed. Magicians decided they could use their own magic to clean and cook. I don’t know exactly how it happened, but Brownies weren’t accepted in communities anymore. And the Hobgoblins disappeared with them.” I looked over to her, seeing the sadness in her eyes.

“Back in the day, Brownies were stiff and, to be honest, boring. We Hobgoblins were there to remind everyone, Brownie and human, that there was such a thing as fun. We caused havoc, but it was all so entertaining and we taught people to find laughter in the smallest things. It was truly a great time. From what I heard…”

“What happened with the Brownies and Hobgoblins? Surely they didn’t just disappear?” I asked. “Well, most Brownies did. We don’t know where they went, but I think the only way they’ll come back is if they’re needed again. The Hobgoblins mostly died out. There were no more Brownies, so we didn’t have a use either. Only some of us, the ones like me, remained to live in the homes of magicians like Alex, who haven’t forgotten us. I’m one of the last ones left”

“That sounds terrible, I’m so sorry Jess.” I said, hoping she’d hear I meant it. “Yeah…” Jess sighed miserably. “You should get some sleep, Dan. Tomorrow, you’ll be off to the first village.” I stood up, and just as I was about to enter my tent, Jess tapped my foot with something. When I looked down, she was holding a knife.

“What the hell?” I half-shouted, and Jess shushed me. “Don’t worry, I just want you to take this with you.” “What am I going to need an oversized knife for?” I whispered, hoping Phil hadn’t been woken up by my obnoxious use of vocal sound. “It’s not a knife.” Jess said annoyed. “It’s a Katana, an ancient Japanese longsword. It’s not Nihontō, crafted in Japan, but it is still a powerful weapon.”

“That is incredibly cool and all, but why would I need a sword?” I said, taking it from her to inspect it closely. “I honestly don’t know what you’ll come across, or when I’ll be back. So please just take it, and practice with it when Phil isn’t there.” “Why can’t Phil know?” I asked, confused. Jess rolled her eyes, laughing a little. “Phil wouldn’t want you to use it.”

I nodded, knowing that was true. But was it really wrong to not want to use violence? I decided that I wouldn’t use the Katana, unless it was absolutely vital for our survival. Jess seemed to notice that I’d accept her gift, as she handed me a box to put the Katana in. “You use it with both hands on the shaft. It’s single edged, wear it with the cutting edge up. And wear it with pride, young friend.”

I went to bed with an ancient sword in a box next to my sleeping bag. Yes, completely normal.

 

Jess said goodbye to us like we were old friends. She hugged us tightly, at the same time, and told us to keep a watch on each other. I didn’t like the way her eyes lingered on me while saying that. I’m not a warrior or something, just someone who was slightly less likely to freak out holding a sword than Phil.

Jess had walked us to the first village, one that was so small that we could’ve probably missed it if we hadn’t been paying attention. According to Jess, who had taken it upon her to sound as much as a crazy tour guide as possible, the villagers would tell a story. If we could figure out the story, and restore peace in every village, the plant we were looking for would start growing in the town’s centre. It seemed like an awful lot of trouble to grow a plant, a little inconvenient, but apparently it was the only way.

Jess whistled a little tune on her fingers, scaring the shit out of me. All of the sudden, a barn owl flew toward us. Jess sat on its back, laughing at Phil and my face. “This is Eagle, my trusted friend.” She smiled. I watched as she flew off on Eagle’s back, until she was but a little dot in the sky. A feeling of dread crept upon me. We were alone in the Woods everyone seemed to fear.

“We should head into town, see what is going on here.” Phil said, already walking. “Yeah, that sounds like a good plan!” I said, probably a little too chipper, judging from the way Phil rolled his eyes. It didn’t take long for us to reach the town’s centre, where a little market place was set up. There were tons of people selling fruit and vegetables, each of them looking poorer than the last.

I didn’t exactly know what to look for, so Phil and I just started talking to random merchants, trying to understand what sort of town this was. Apparently this community had been set up in the early 1800s, when a few idealistic people had tried making a utopia. There were a few farms in the area, in clearings in the woods, so they sold a lot of food.

There was an old woman who told me that there was a castle nearby. Apparently, there lived a prince, along with his mother. The old woman sounded livid, and with good reason. While the prince lived there in luxury, the villagers were resorted to a few scraps of food every day. How terrible it must be to grow food for a living, but never have enough of it. A group of people had assembled, and they were all joining in on the conversation.

“They don’t even let visitors in!” A boy said, looking in the direction I supposed the castle was. “Yeah!” A girl standing beside him said. “Only travellers are let in, and only if they are as rich as the prince himself!” “I heard the prince only lets rich people in, so that he can find a woman to marry! He’s probably looking for a princess!” A man shouted.

More people mumbled their agreement, and I realized they were really pissed about this. I didn’t really get their anger. I mean, sure, if a rich prince lived around here, surely he could help out every once in a while, but he was under no obligation to do so.

Phil looked as though he agreed with the villagers completely. Phil had always been a bit like that, he thought everyone had the duty to help others. The villagers seemed really into the conversation, people started to shout their disapproval. I decided I’d keep my opinion to myself, for my own safety.

“I have an idea!” The old woman suddenly shouted, and the market place quieted a little. “What is it, Maggie?” Someone asked. “If Prince Marion wants a princess that is exactly what we’ll give him!” Maggie said, an evil glint in her eyes. “Don’t be silly, old woman. We don’t have a princess.” One of the merchants said.

“No we don’t, but he doesn’t know that. He wouldn’t recognize a single soul from our village, beside the men he buys his vegetables from.” A few people laughed. “Let’s send a girl up to him, let him think she’s a lost princess and let them marry! Knowing the prince, he’ll fall for it like that!” Maggie said, snapping her fingers.

And so it happened. A young girl, a little older than Phil and I, was chosen. Eloise was, according to the villagers, the prettiest girl in town and I suppose she was. I mean, she was a girl and that lack of penis made me completely uninterested, but still. The girl lived amongst the poorest families in town. One of the ‘richer’ women lend her a dress, and she got a white stallion from one of the farmers.

She’d leave at dawn. I was perplexed, did the villagers really think this was fair? When I finally expressed my confusion at Phil, he shot me a look. “Dan, not everyone is as rich as you dad. Some people don’t always have money to buy food.” “Yeah, I know. I just don’t think this is the right way to go at it.” I said.

“Well then do something about it. I’m going to read the book Alex gave me. Meet me back at the tent for dinner.” Phil said, not checking to see if I’d heard before walking back to where we’d tied Sashay and Cavort to a tree.

Sighing, I decided to start practicing with my Katana. I walked into the woods on Sashay’s back without paying attention to my surroundings. Sashay would be able to find our way back, I was sure. After a few minutes, I came across what must be the castle the villagers talked about.

I was expecting something extremely fancy, but it looked more like the castle from Beauty and the Beast, before the transformation. Minus the singing furniture, of course. Also, a lot smaller. This wasn’t that weird, seeing as only two people lived there. There were a few guards near the gates, but none of them seemed to have the proper attire.

Only one of them was armed with a sword, the other three had shields, but no weapon. This was odd, you’d expect a rich prince to arm his soldiers. Whatever, it’s not like I cared. I found a little clearing in the woods, a few hundred metres away from the castle, and I got out the Katana from its box in Sashay’s saddlebag.

I practiced until the sun started to disappear. The katana was heavier than I’d expected, and I had no idea how to hold it. After a few clumsy attempts, I started to get the hang of it, though. I practiced a few sways, wielding the sword like I knew what to do with it. I almost cut myself a few times, but it wasn’t as terrible as I’d anticipated.

I made my way back to Phil, who’d gotten bored and was now making granola out of some of the seeds and nuts Alex had packed us. “We can take these with us for lunch tomorrow.” Phil said, handing me a few. “Thanks!” I said, smelling the sticks.

“What did you do today?” Phil asked. This was his first attempt at a friendly conversation, but I couldn’t really answer him. I couldn’t just explain I’d been practicing with fighting, could I? I took probably a second or two too long with answering, but I hoped it still sounded at least sort of genuine.

“I went for a walk. I saw Prince Marion’s Castle. It was guarded, but only by a few guards.” I explained what I’d seen, but Phil didn’t seem bothered. “Maybe the prince was out with the better armed guards or something.” I shrugged, starting on a soup we could have for dinner.

Phil worked beside me, cutting up some carrots. I hadn’t asked him for help, but we both knew we worked well together. We didn’t have to discuss what to put in the soup, we both knew what the other liked. “What did you do?” I asked. “Reading, like I said.” Phil said, seeming really happy about it.

“The book is so interesting! There are all these creatures that I’m learning about, they’re so cool!” I giggled at Phil’s enthusiasm. He’d always been like that, happy as a child whenever he could learn about animals. He started telling me about all the creatures, but I didn’t really pay attention, just watched his lips as he spoke.

After dinner, Phil retreated to his tent to read some more. We’d decided that we’d try to rise early enough to see Eloise off. Whatever was happening here could very well be the story we were looking for, so we ought to pay attention. I had no idea what we were supposed to do though.

I wondered if the villagers knew that this was all just a story. Did they know and were they just acting? Did the story change every time someone needed the plant? I couldn’t really comprehend it, the way the plants were supposed to appear. Whatever, I’d just have to trust Jess told us the truth.

Speaking of Jess, I really hoped she’d be back in time to show us to the next village. She’d given us a map, but I had no idea how in the world we were going to navigate in a forest where everything looked exactly the same. I could walk here for an hour and still feel like I hadn’t gone far. Sighing, I decided I’d head off to bed. I hated rising early, and tomorrow we’d have to be up by dawn.

Regardless of the fact that I had actually gone to bed early, Phil had trouble waking me the next morning. I never felt like I’d slept enough, even if I slept for like ten hours. Phil on the other hand was always chipper, even in the early morning.

After a quick breakfast, we went into the village, where a small group of people had already gathered around Eloise. I had to admit she looked great. She was very thin, as her family didn’t have a lot of money for food, but her wavy, blue dress hid that quite well. Her blonde hair was braided, with wildflowers hidden in it.

We watched her set off into the woods, with the villagers applauding her like she was a war hero. Phil and I watched her go, both a little worried about what was going to happen. “So, want to hang out today?” I asked, not knowing what else we could do today. Phil seemed like he was going to refuse at first, but then he smiled and nodded.

We spent the entire day together, laughing like we always did. We had our lunch in a little tavern, and the owner seemed mighty happy to have customers. She explained to us that most people didn’t have the time nor the money to come drink here. She couldn’t pursue a different profession, though, as she didn’t have the money to buy some ground.

At night, Phil and I watched the stars together, seeing if we could find the constellations Jess had taught us. We pointed out the ones we recognised, and then started making up our own, laughing harder than we ever had. When I looked to Phil, I found him staring at me, blushing as he looked away.

“I think that one looks like your face.” He whispered, pointing toward a random group of stars. I giggled, not seeing a face in it at al. “I think it looks like an arse.” Phil punched me, but it was so soft it could’ve been a caress. Maybe it was.

We were woken up harshly the next morning, by voices shouting from the village. I stretched, feeling the muscles in my back hurt because I’d slept on the ground all night. Next to me, Phil was doing the same. “What is going on?” he asked, his voice hoarse as it was in the early morning. I shrugged, waking Sashay and Cavort and untying them.

 When we flew into town, no one paid attention to us, nor did they mention our flying unicorns. Apparently they were used to the mythical in these woods. When we got close enough to the commotion, I noticed Eloise was standing there, frantically explaining something. I saw Maggie in the crowd, and, after descending Sashay, walked over.

“What is going on here?” I asked, at the same time Phil said: “What happened?” Maggie grimaced, pointing at the hysterical Eloise. “Listen, she was just about to explain again.” Eloise noticed us and walked over. “Did you hear? Did you hear what happened to me?” I shook my head, worried.

“I came to the castle, explained I was a princess who’d lost her way. They immediately took me in, rushed me to a bedroom I could stay in. It was a beautiful room, but when I left to explore the castle, I noticed the rest of the castle was dilapidated; the furniture was old and it looked like there hadn’t been a maid for months!

“When Marion saw me walking around, he straightaway made me go on a walk with him, probably to hide the state of his castle. After walking around for _hours_ , I finally convinced him to head back so we could get dinner. And you know what they served me?” Eloise shouted, in exasperation. “PEAS!”

It fell silent for a moment. “What is wrong with peas?” I asked, not understanding what was wrong. “Nothing, nothing! But it was the only thing they served! Even we have the decency to serve our guests some potatoes with vegetables, at the very least.” “So what does this mean? The prince didn’t buy anything for dinner but peas?” I asked.

“Exactly! Which means he’s not rich at all! I managed to escape this morning, as Marion was out with his guards. He only has four by the way.” I couldn’t believe what I heard. Everyone in the village was making fun of Marion, cursing him for being just as poor as they were! This was a perfect explanation as to why he didn’t try to help them before, why weren’t they more understanding?

Eloise was just about to start on a new story about how poorly she was treated, when he heard hooves approach. All of the sudden, the four guards were coming toward us, a man who I could imagine was Prince Marion on a black horse behind them. “There she is! I told you sir, she is no princess!” One of the guards said.

Apparently the guards weren’t wearing their full armour the last time I saw them. Each of them had a sword on them, and they’d left the shields. One of the guards started to approach Eloise, who looked scared out of her mind. “You aren’t a rich princess from a southern isle, are you?” Marion asked, looking sad.

“So what? You aren’t a rich prince either!” Eloise said, venom in her voice. “You lied to me, and for that you must pay!” Marion said sadly, nodding toward the guard. “I bet you only wanted to marry me because you want money, don’t you?” Eloise screamed, taking a few steps back. From the way Marion’s face shifted, I knew she got it right.

“And you just wanted to steal my money!” Marion screamed back just as loud. “YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE MONEY!” Eloise shouted, throwing her hand up to the sky. The guard steered his horse toward her, and he lifted his sword. A gasp went through the crowd. Before I knew it, I’d spoken up.

“Wait!” All the heads turned toward me. Shit. I didn’t really have a plan, and I’d left my Katana in the tent. “Think about this!” I said, thinking about it. Could I bluff my way out of this? “You both lied about your wealth, but does it really matter how much money someone has?” I started, but both Marion and Eloise frowned at me. Okay, wrong approach.

“I mean, how about you team up?” I said, and Marion just tilted his head. “Well, if you two work together, maybe you could, like, set up a business? I don’t know, maybe work together to acquire some wealth? You could all work together!” I said, addressing the crowd. “Share food that’s left over with those who don’t have any. Help each other with the crops when you have time left!” I said, seeing some people nod and smile.

“Maybe you have a point.” Marion said. “My mother and I have never actually tried working for money. We just tried luring a rich princess to our castle, but that didn’t really work.” “Yeah no wonder if your house is so messy.” Eloise sighed. “How about I clean it up, if you work on my parent’s farm a few days a week?” “Great idea!” Marion smiled.

I watched as more and more villagers started to exchange services. The tavern lady offered to work on the lands, if the farmers would come in for a drink every once in a while. Other people offered to make clothes in exchange for food or animals. I watched the town centre, where a huge empty plant pot sat, hoping some plants would appear, but nothing happened.

Weird, this did seem like a solution, why was nothing happening? I looked over to Phil, who was fuming with anger. “Phil? What’s wrong?” I asked, startled. “Are you kidding me?” Phil asked through his teeth as he grabbed me by the arm and hauled me into the forest, beckoning for our Alicorns to follow.

“Why did you do that? Why did you make them forgive Marion?” Phil half-shouted at me. “What? I just wanted them to stop fighting… They were going to hurt Eloise!” I said, sitting on a rock behind me. “But Marion was the villain here! He was the one who lied for all these years! It was his fault!” Phil bellowed.

“They were both a little wrong, Phil, maybe Marion more than Eloise, but they both made a mistake!” I said, upset by Phil’s behaviour. “This is not how the story goes! I refuse to believe this! You recognise the story, right? The princess and the pea? This is not how it goes! The Prince was in the wrong, not the princess!”

“Why do you care so much? Why does it have to be the way they told us when we were little?” Phil sighed his eyes filling with tears. “Because this- this idea that there are people who are pure good and people who are pure evil- this is all I have to excuse him.” “Your father…” I sighed understandingly.

“He was a hero. He always was. He helped people, that was his story. What he did… That wasn’t him.” “Yeah, well, people chance. There is not a person who is _only_ good or _only_ evil. We all have a little bit of both.” I said, trying to console Phil.

“So what you’re saying is my dad wasn’t good?” Phil said, furious “No. What I am saying is that he was more than just good. He had good and bad tendencies and, in the end, the bad tendencies won.” I said, trying desperately to console him. I couldn’t bring up what happened to Phil’s dad right now, it would only freak him out.

“I don’t believe you.” Phil said. Although he sounded calmer, he was obviously still upset. He sat down next to me on the rock, and stared stubbornly into space, not making eye contact with me. I wanted to tell him that he _did_ believe me, he just didn’t want to, but something stopped me.

Phil was good. I didn’t believe in people being ‘pure good’, but Phil was about as close as it was going to get. There was this unspoken rule that you don’t hurt people who are almost only good, as that would make you almost only bad. I didn’t want to be evil. No, it was more than just the prospect of being evil, being the thing I saw my father as.

I didn’t want to hurt Phil, because he was Phil. He was that little spark of light on the days I couldn’t keep going. He was the one who made me laugh when nothing else could. He was there to follow me with all my dumb ideas. He was the one person I saw as a constant, as a thing that would be there in the future. No matter what path I’d end up on, I wanted Phil walking beside me.

Mind you, I’ve known I’m love with Phil for a while now. This isn’t some moment where everything just seems so much clearer, just because we’re having an emotional moment. No, I’ve known, I’ve just been ignoring it for a while. When something is that obvious, you notice, even when you’re trying to deny it.

I guess I haven’t been in love since the moment we met, maybe not until many years later. There was the time I was so rude to Phil’s girlfriend she broke up with him. There was the exchange student that followed Phil around for a few weeks. God I was jealous of him. And there were all the other moments, the ones like right now. Moments where everything just seemed, at a loss for a less cliché word, right.

It’s hard to explain exactly why I haven’t told him yet. I’m not an idiot, I know he at least cares about me too, but there will always be that doubt. That does he/doesn’t he feeling that will stop me from saying anything at all. Basically I’m just a chicken.

I put my hand of Phil’s arm. “It’s going to be all right Phil. I promise.” Phil smiled at me, but the tears in his eyes didn’t go away. “I just don’t want to end up like him. I know people think I’m a good person, but that doesn’t mean I’m not capable of what my father did.”

“Do you think I will end up like my father?” I asked him. “What? No! You’re not like him! You have a completely different view of the world, you will never be like him.” Phil said sincerely. “Well then you won’t end up like your dad. You could never hurt someone like he hurt-“ “Don’t talk about that please.” There was no venom in his voice, but I knew that I should stop talking.

We sat there for a while, in silence. My hand was still on his shoulder, and after a few minutes, Phil picked it up and put my arm around his shoulders. I leaned my head on his shoulder and realized, I hadn’t felt this at peace for a long time. I should try this ‘talking about it’ thing more often.

“Maybe you were right.” Phil said. I didn’t reply, not sure what he was talking about anyway. “Maybe this was the best way to console this. You did a good job.” Phil said, and I smiled, happy with his approval. Suddenly, voices were heard from the town again. “Seriously? We’ve been gone half an hour and they’re already fighting?”

We ran into town, but quickly realized that these weren’t shouts of anger, but of joy. The plants had started growing. I could see their red leaves from here. When we walked up to the town centre, Maggie picked some of the plants and put them in a sack. “Here, for helping us solve this.” She said, handing the package to me.

My eyes went big. I’d expected that getting the plant would become at least a slight challenge, but Maggie seemed sure she wanted me to have it. “Thank you ma’am!” I said, taking the plant and smiling at her. Maggie nodded at me. “Best be on your way now. There’s a few hours till dark, and you’re going to have to travel all day tomorrow to get to the next village.”

I couldn’t believe my ears, Maggie knew about our task? “Wait how did you…” Phil started, but Maggie had already walked away. Phil and I exchanged looks. “She’s probably right. We ought to head out and see if we can travel a bit today.” Phil said. “How big is this forest if we’re going to have to fly for hours to get to the next village?” I asked. Phil laughed, walking back to Cavort. “It’s magical Dan, nobody fucking knows!”

 

Turns out it took us about ten hours of flying before we reached the next village. We flew for about three hours before deciding to continue the next day, and my ass already felt like it’d explode if I sat on Sashay’s back for one more minute. So when we finally reached the village, saying that I was relieved was a major understatement.

“We should set up camp, get a fire going.” Phil said, getting his tent out of his bag. “Yeah sure, sure…” I said, not paying attention. We’d landed on a small hill, and I could see the village from here. It was still too far away to really make out what I was seeing, but there appeared to be a _lot_ of people there. “When are we heading into town? I’m actually excited to see what story we’re going to see!”

Phil slapped me on the back of my head with his sleeping back. “Hey, you turnip! Set your tent up first! We can go check it out after we’ve had dinner and made some granola bars for tomorrow.” “Not fair…” I said, in my best chubby toddler voice. Phil laughed and together we made quick work of the tents.

“I’ll make dinner, you go and explore you big baby.” Phil said, after seeing me continually gaze at the village. “Nah, that’s okay. I don’t really want to go there without you yet.” I said, secretly a little scared of what I’d find. Phil laughed, but he didn’t call me out for what was obviously fear. “Fine, I’ll cook, you just go for a walk or something.” I smiled and nodded.

When Phil wasn’t looking, I got my Katana out of my bag and wandered off into the woods. I practiced for a while, but it still didn’t feel like fighting with this sword was something I should try in the immediate future. Hopefully I’d never have to.

On my way back to where Phil would have something to eat ready by now, I came across what seemed like a small graveyard. Weirdly enough, there were shoes on top of every grave. Some looked incredibly old, others looked like they hadn’t been there all that long. Intrigued, I read some of the tombstones.

Most of them were people that had passed away from old age, it seemed. There were a few small children’s graves, the odd teenager here and there, but mostly people who seemed to have lived a long life. Suddenly, I came across a very big grave. According to the stone, it belonged to a family of three. A mother and her two teenage daughters. Although that wasn’t such a notable detail in itself, there were two things that caught my eye. One, there were no shoes on their grave. Two, they died three days ago…

I rushed back to Phil, and told him about it. He didn’t seem fazed, and I guess he had a point. People die every day, right? Why did I find this so weird? I wasn’t sure why, but it seemed like an awfully important detail to me. Maybe it was a part of whatever we’d find in the village. Or maybe I was spending too much time in a magical forest and I was starting to see things. Probably both, let’s be honest.

After dinner, I was reluctant to go to the village. The graveyard had sort of been a reminder for me. These Woods were wild and magical. I could pretend otherwise all I liked, but clearly it was in no way like my home. However, I couldn’t just leave this place. That would mean that someone else would have to get the essentials to make a prison lock for the _Pentasenumbra_. That wasn’t fair and besides, it wasn’t like I had a home to return to if I didn’t succeed here.

And so, Phil and I walked down the hill, into the village. The closer we got to the town’s centre, the more shops we came across. Oddly enough, most of the shops were shoe stores. There were some clothing stores, and a furniture shop here and there, but mostly shoes. They were really expensive, too! I couldn’t quite figure out what the reason for this was, until Phil stood still and pulled me aside.

“Dan, look at their feet!” He said, clearly freaked out. As soon as I looked down, I understood why. The people we’d been walking past for a while all had a lot of feet. Like, three to five each. They had a normal amount of legs, but there were so many feet, I felt a little lightheaded. “What the hell?” I said, my eyes as big as teacups. “Pretend you don’t find this weird, I don’t want to draw attention.” Phil mumbled, already composing himself.

“Right… Well, this does explain the stores.” I whispered, continuing my way downtown. Phil giggled, linking our elbows like we did when we were kids. I blushed, trying to deny how much I liked him close to me. My terrible attempts were rudely disturbed by voices shouting, coming from a few streets away.

Phil and I ran to where the disruption was taking place, and we were faced with two policemen, trying to get inside a house. “Open up! We have the right to search this house!” One officer shouted. The door opened a tiny bit, and a scrawny old man opened. “I have nothing to do with this! I hadn’t had contact with Miss Madeleine in years!” The policeman laughed, stepping closer. “You’re her ex. Twenty years after your divorce, on the anniversary even, she is found murdered in her house, her most precious possessions gone!”

The old man sighed. “I know that, but I had nothing to do with it! Maybe you should be talking to the person that found Madeleine!” “How dare you?! Accusing poor Ella! She’s just lost her family, for the second time! You open up that door, you bastard!” The man looked scared out of his mind. “No! You’ll just take them! You don’t have a search warrant, so go away!”

Them? What was the man so scared of losing? The second policeman pulled the other by the arm. “Let’s go. We can’t go inside without a search warrant. We’ll just come back. Let’s just search the other suspects first.” As soon as the policemen went away, Phil and I were approached by a woman.

“Well hello boys! You must be travellers, arentcha?” She said, smiling brightly at us. “Yes, we are! How did you notice?” Phil asked surprised. “You got that look.” She smiled. “Plus, you’ve only got two feet. Everyone around here has lived here for so many generations we’ve started to grow more than just the two. It’s a family trait, and pretty much everyone here is family!” She laughed. I tried to hide my disgust, but she must’ve seen my face fall.

“What, you got no’ing weird in your family?” She asked. “Oh, I do, believe me.” I sighed. She shrugged, and then pointed at the door the policemen were just screaming at. “So, did y’all hear the story yet?” When I shook my head, she started on a story that was remarkably detailed. Apparently, a young girl named Ella had just lost her step-mother and two step-sisters.

Ella had lost her mother when she was little, but her father (a merchant who travelled 9 months of the year) remarried a divorcee named Madeleine. Unfortunately, Ella’s father fell ill on one of his trips, and never returned. Ella stayed inside because of her grief for two years, until three days ago, when she found her family murdered in cold blood, all of their shoes gone.

“You see, shoes are very valuable ‘round here. Where other villages have family honour, duals to the death or a profound appreciation for money, ‘round here, footwear is how you show your worth. To be seen without shoes on, that’s like social suicide.” I suddenly felt very conscious of the shoes I was wearing. “Don’t worry, chump! Nobody’s gon’ judge you two.” The woman laughed, before excusing herself.

“You recognise the story, right?” I asked Phil, when the woman had disappeared. “Of course. Cinderella. Maybe we should find this Ella and talk to her.” Phil said solemnly. “Great plan boys!” A voice said from behind us. I turned around to find Jess, looking slightly tired and sick, but otherwise okay. “Jess!” Phil exclaimed. “It’s so good to see you!”

“You too, Phil! I heard you finished the first village! Well done, boys!” Jess said, saluting us. I laughed, returning the hug Jess was trying to give Phil and me from her height. “How have you been?” I asked, concerned about the way she looked. “Fine, fine. Now, let’s go to Ella. I know where she lives!” Jess said, glossing over the details. Phil didn’t seem to notice, though. “How do you know that?”

Jess just raised an eyebrow. “I’m a magical Hobgoblin, what did you expect?” I followed them as they made their way through town, worrying about my little friend’s health. I soon realized, though, that Jess was very capable of taking care of herself. I shouldn’t worry this much.

 

We met Ella at her house, and she immediately invited us inside for tea. She appeared to be a really nice girl, very polite and well mannered. She seemed sad about her family, but gave the impression to be handing it okay. She would’ve been a very average girl, besides the fact she had six feet, of course.

“Ella, I noticed you have an unusual amount of feet, even for this town! Actually, I don’t think I saw anyone else with that wonderful amount!” Jess said, rather rudely. Phil shot her a look, he was clearly enamoured with Ella. “Oh, yeah. My mother and grandmother both had this amount too. It’s quite marvellous, is it not?” Ella said, batting her eyelashes at Phil.

Okay, maybe I didn’t like her that much. Phil just nodded awkwardly. “Well, thanks for the tea, but it’s late. We ought to go.” I said, trying to sound at least somewhat nice. “Of course, I’ve kept you here for long enough. I’m just a tad lonely these days…” Ella said, pouting just a little. “We could come back? Tomorrow?” Phil said, and I felt like punching him. “That would be lovely!” Ella said, seeing us out.

“What in the name of peaches, Phil? We don’t have time to go visit some pretty girl every day we’re here!” I said, as soon as we stepped outside.  “She is lonely!” Phil just replied, looking at Jess for help. “Sorry Phil, I’m with Dan on this. It is sort of essential I finish this quest as soon as possible.” “Why? What were you doing this past week?” Phil said, angrily. Jess rolled her eyes. “Something important.”

“I thought you were here to help us.” Phil said, sounding like an upset toddler. “Phil, relax. You can go visit her tomorrow, Jess and I’ll go and talk to the villagers, try to figure out who did this.” “Right.” Phil said, sounding slightly disappointed. Then his eyes went big. “The prince! You should be looking for a prince, he’ll probably have something to do with it!”

“Yeah, that’s a good plan.” Jess said approvingly. “Let’s go back to camp now and get some sleep. I could use some.” She said, yawning. I considered asking her about her whereabouts, but I figured she’d only be irritated. “Okay, let’s go.” I just sighed.

When I woke up the next morning, Phil was already making us breakfast. “Hey Dan. Sleep well?” He asked. I just shrugged and sat next to him, warming my hands close to the fire. “You noticed Jess was looking a bit odd yesterday, right?” Phil asked, his voice barely a whisper. I leaned in closer, for the sole purpose of talking, of course.

“Yeah, I did. Do you think she’s a bit ill?” I asked, making sure to talk softly as I didn’t want Jess to somehow hear. “Maybe. I wonder what she’s been doing. It’s weird… I’ve only known her for like a week but she’s a friend to me already.” I smiled at Phil. “Same. I hope she’ll be okay.” It was quiet between us for a few moments, until Phil awkwardly cleared his throat.

“So, are you sure you don’t want to come with me to see Ella today?” He asked. My face fell and I sat upright again. “No I’m good, thanks.” Phil dropped his eyes, fidgeting with his hands. “Oh, okay. I just thought it’d be nice to go together or something.” I frowned. Why would Phil want me there? I thought he wanted to go back because he liked Ella.

“I’m sorry, Phil. I just think it’d be best if we finished this quest as soon as possible. I don’t really like it all that much in these Woods.” I said, taking a look in the pan he was cooking in. “Your eggs are burning.” “Right.” Phil said, absentmindedly scraping the eggs out of the pan. “Jess! Breakfast!” Phil then shouted, effectively waking Jess (and everyone else in the neighbourhood).

After breakfast, Jess and I went off without Phil, who was going to read a little before going to meet up with Ella. It was so annoying to leave Phil to go to someone he might possibly start to develop romantic feelings for. If I could, I’d drag him away from her, confessing how I felt and finally having him know. But he’s my best friend, I can’t lose him.

I have no clue whether he likes me back or not. I mean, there have been things that indicated he liked me, but we’re close friends. Who fucking knows if his feelings for me are platonic? I can’t stop him from hanging out with other possible significant others. It’d be unfair to him, and to me too honestly, as I’d know Phil wasn’t with me because he wanted to be.

Anyway, Jess and I talked to about fourteen people, all before lunch. Although they were all very kind and _very_ welcoming (at least three of them invited me inside for some ‘business’), none of them were able to tell us anything about the murders. When I started mentioning a prince, they all looked at me like I was stupid.

“There ain’t no royalty ‘round here, boy.” They’d say. Besides, according to most of the villagers, Ella had never been in a romantic relationship before, and there weren’t any balls she’d attended. Only the fifteenth person we spoke to, a young boy, told us anything about a male. “Well, there was a young man visiting her today! They were having a picnic in her garden, where I work!” He said, sounding excited. “I’m so glad Ella’s feeling a bit better, she’s so nice!”

I walked away from the boy without saying anything, leaving Jess to assure him he hadn’t done anything wrong. I walked over to a tree stump and sat down, my head in my hands. The boy must’ve been talking about Phil, no doubt. They were probably on a date. I took a deep breath, trying to stop all the thoughts that were, at this moment, attacking my brain.

Jess sat down next to me, quietly jumping on the stump. “You’re not sure if it means anything. Maybe Phil just wants to be her friend.” She said, trying to sound hopeful (and failing, might I add). “Although that is nice of you, we both know Phil wouldn’t prolong this journey if he didn’t like someone,” “Yeah someone…” Jess said. I looked at her questioningly, but she just shook her head and refused to elaborate.

“I’ll go get us some lunch somewhere. You go find Phil and take him back to camp, okay?” Jess said, running away from me before I could answer. Great, not only would I have to have the knowledge Phil was on a date with someone else, I’d actually have to see them together. God knows what they were doing right now. Maybe Phil had even told her about our quest.

Sighing, I made my way to where Ella lived. I rang the bell once, and waited until I heard footsteps coming to the door. Phil opened, a frantic look in his eyes. “Dan! Good of you to come get me! Right on time!” He said, already half out the door. “You have to leave already?” Ella said, appearing behind Phil. She was wearing a beautiful blue dress, and her hair was up. Show-off.

“Yeah, like I said. Dan and I have plans! We’ve got uh- we’ve got somewhere to be!” Phil took my arm and pulled me away, not bothering to say goodbye. “A bit rude, Phil, don’t you think?” I said, letting him pull me toward away. “I don’t care.” Phil said, looking behind him as if to see if we were being followed. When we reached a semi-quiet part of town, he let go of me and sighed.

“Ella is the murderer, Dan!” I frowned, not sure if I heard that quite right. “Why are you turning on her, I thought you liked her?” I shrugged, secretly a little glad Phil didn’t seem so obsessed with her anymore. “I realized I was being stupid. I didn’t really like her anyway, I just wanted…” “What?” I asked, tilting my head.

Phil and I made eye contact. It lingered, and it felt like he might as well have been hugging me. It was one of those times where the simple act of looking felt more intimate than touching ever could. “Nothing.” Phil said softly. “Anyway… I decided to investigate and I went into her closet, and there were all these shoes.” “Not very odd, considering these people all have a shit-ton of feet.” I mumbled.

“Yeah, but she had like fifty pairs! Most of those probably wouldn’t even fit her!” Phil said eerily. “So what are you saying, she stole them?” I asked, furrowing my brows. “Yes! From her step-family! Don’t you remember? They didn’t have shoes on their grave!” “Well, shit!” I said, realizing where he was going. "But why would she have killed them? I mean, I know they like shoes around here, but if she can’t even wear them…”

Phil sighed. “I know why. She and I were talking about family and stuff, and she started telling me about the way her step-family treated her. Apparently they were jealous of her, and took her shoes from her. Without her shoes, she couldn’t go outside.” “That’s actually terrible.” I said, temporarily forgetting that I actually disliked Ella.

“It’s an explanation as for why she’d kill them, but it’s not an excuse. We need to tell the police.” Phil said sternly. “You’re right. Let’s find Jess first though, she’s waiting for us.” Phil nodded and so I took him to camp, where Jess was waiting for us with steamed buns and butter. “Dig in, boys!” She said, smiling brightly at us.

“Actually, Jess… We found out who killed Ella’s family.” I said, carefully. “Finally! So you got the plant yet, or do you still need to resolve this shit?” Jess said, apparently not impressed at all. “Uh, not yet. Do you think the police will believe us when we tell them it’s Ella?” Phil asked. Jess stared at us for at least five seconds and then face palmed. “Are you actually joking?” She said.

“No? We found proof! Ella killed her family!” I said, frowning. “No she didn’t!” Jess exclaimed, obviously frustrated. “She didn’t? You know who did it?” Phil asked in confusion. “Of course I know! I grew up in this forest! And okay, it was Ella, but it wasn’t her idea.” Jess said, like we were stupid. “Wait, you’ve known all along? Why didn’t you just tell us?” I asked.

Jess sighed, sitting down on a rock, taking a bite out of one of the buns. She took her time chewing and swallowing the bite, making us wait in agony. Finally, she finished, and pursed her lips before speaking slowly. “Yes, I’ve known all along. I know all the stories, and so do most people that live here. I didn’t tell you because there’s a way these villages work. They only give their plants to those who’ve seen the story, and understood the moral of it.”

“What, they want to teach us about murder and jealousy?” I exclaimed in frustration. Jess had known? Why in the world were we doing this if she could just tell us the answer and be done with it? “No Dan, think about this. I’ll tell you the story this time. The ‘Prince’ in this story is a guy Ella befriended at a small party once, a few years ago. When he learned of the amount of shoes that were in Ella’s family’s possession, he got obsessed with obtaining them.

“He visited Ella in her years of confinement, and a few days ago he finally persuaded her to kill her family. Only she doesn’t want to share this fortune with him, she wants to keep it to herself. He, of course, is insanely angry with her.” Jess looked at us, making sure we were paying attention. “Do you understand why I am telling you this now, instead of letting you figure out by yourself?”

I didn’t, if I was being completely honest, but Phil’s eyes went big. “Oh my, you don’t think he’d try to hurt her, do you?” Jess didn’t say anything, just looked up at us with her big brown eyes. “Fuck.” I said, and Phil and I went running of in the direction of the village. I had no idea where to go. I guess the best place was Ella’s, surely the ‘Prince’ would come there if he intended her any harm.

But Phil grabbed my arm and pulled me in another direction. “Where are you going?” I asked, following Phil and disregarding my confusion. “I don’t know, exactly. I just… I have a feeling.” Although that was probably the least explanatory thing to say at a moment like this, I figured I’d trust Phil. This was a magical forest, after all. No telling if those included having to listen to your guts to guide the way.

Phil pulled me around a corner, where we collided harshly with someone else. Ella. She quickly got up, and was running away before I could say anything at all. “Ella! Wait! We can help!” Phil shouted. Ella had already turned around the corner, so I supposed she hadn’t heard, but she actually came back after a few seconds.

“Phil, you’re a nice guy, but you can’t help me. He’s after me!” she said, panicking. “Okay, relax. I think we might be able to help, just tell us who you’re running from.” I said, trying to stay calm. “Me.” A voice said behind us. When I turned around, I was faced with a boy I was sure I hadn’t seen before in my life.

Believe me, I’d have remembered a face like his. He had scars all around his eyes, and a few on his cheeks and forehead. They were small, but there were so many of them. I couldn’t help but gasp at the sight of him. The boy seemed to have expected that, because he laughed, humourlessly. “Yeah, I know. I get that a lot.”

Ella instinctively stepped behind Phil, taking his arm. Both the boy and I frowned, and I was almost ashamed of it, until I remembered that Ella was a murderer. I could be angry with her if I wanted to be. “Go away, you freak! You just want to hurt me because I won’t give you my shoes!” She screamed, tears in her eyes.

“I want to hurt you because you won’t marry me.” The boy sighed. “Same difference.” Ella snarled. “No, actually.” The boy said sadly. “I’ve wanted to marry you since we were little, long before I knew of your fortune, though that helped, yes. The reason I’m so mad at you, is because you’re afraid of my scars… Even after all these years, you still have trouble looking past them.”

I felt sorry for him, if only for a moment. Ella didn’t respond to him, maybe she was ashamed of her actions regarding the boy’s face, maybe she just didn’t have anything to say. I sighed, we needed to resolve this, so we could continue our hunt for plants. “Maybe you can both learn something for this garbage can of a situation.” I said. I was greeted with not two, but three irritated stares.

“What?” I asked Phil, who was currently raising an eyebrow at me. Phil just shrugged, and stepped away from Ella. “Ella, you’re a murderer. What you did was wrong, and you need to realize that. Make sure you make it right, for instance: restore your step-family’s shoes to their graves. And you…” Phil turned to the boy.

“You will find someone, some day. I know this sounds like a load of crap, but I mean it. One day, you’ll meet someone who will see _you_. I promise. But don’t go and make someone love you, it just don’t work that way, buddy.” Phil said, and to my surprise, both Ella and the boy nodded. Ella noticed a policewoman walking nearby.

“Excuse me. I have some things to put right.” She said, sounding scared shitless, yet oddly brave. The boy sighed, grief visible in his features. “Maybe I’ll move away from here. Find someplace where they’ll look past my scars.” He stood there pondering for a moment. “Good luck.” Ella said, before walking away. The boy, too, turned away. Neither said goodbye.

“I can’t believe that worked…” I said, confused as fuck. “I know right?” Phil said, releasing a breath he’d probably been holding quite a while. I giggled, feeling giddy suddenly. “You’re a weird bloke, you know that right?” I laughed. Phil just shoved me aside, laughing too. “Come one, let’s get the plant and go back to Jess. I think it’s about time we go to the next village.” I said. “Yeah.” Phil smiled. “I’m done here.”

Only there was no Jess to go back to. There was no trace of her in our camp, none of her stuff was there. The only thing she left was tiny note, put under one of the stones from last night’s campfire. “She left again?” I said, insanely frustrated. “She’s probably back to doing whatever it was she was doing the past week…” Phil said sadly.

“I suppose. I hope she’ll tell us when she returns. She looks slightly ill, and I don’t want her to catch anything serious.” I mumbled. Phil put his hand on my shoulder, sympathetically. I blushed, moving away from his touch albeit the fact that I never wanted him to stop touching me. “We should head to the next village.” I said, as Phil cleared his throat. “Right.” Phil said, starting with packing up camp.

We worked together in synchronise, and all the while I was wondering if there was any chance he’d like me too. It was one of the most superficial things to think about, especially since we had so much else to worry about, but it somehow felt more important. I usually didn’t let myself think about Phil like this, since he was my friend and all.

Still, repressing this would not erase it. Believe me, I’ve tried. I should either take a chance or forget about him, but the latter apparently wasn’t a real option. “You ready to go?” Phil said, absentmindedly. He was checking the map, seeing where we’d have to go next. Two villages down, two to go. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

 

Phil and I travelled for three days straight. I practiced with the Katana in the breaks we took. It got to the point I wasn’t sure we were ever going to leave this forest. I always got a little bit of anxiety when I went of trips with my family, but this was different. Before, I could always comfort myself by reasoning logically. I always knew that I’d get back home, that this new situation wasn’t forever. I wasn’t so sure now.

Usually when I got anxiety, I talked to Phil. We’d spent hours chatting, until my anxiety had disappeared and I felt at least semi-okay. Now, I didn’t feel like telling Phil that something was wrong. He was going through this too, and he probably was as sick of this Wood as I was. No point in him having to worry about me, besides himself.

When we finally saw some houses, on the other side of a large lake, we were so delighted we wanted to race there, our Alicorns happily obliging. Only we didn’t make it very far before being stopped by a few Alicorns flying in front of, their riders not looking that cheerful. “Didn’t you see the signs? No crossing the lake by air!” A man on a brown Alicorn shouted.

“What sign?” I asked, utterly confused. Was there some sign in the sky that we missed? “The one on the ground, you idiot!” The man shouted at us. Right, on the ground, the one place we would be looking for a sign. I was about to tell the man to stick it where the sun don’t shine, but Phil spoke before I could even open my mouth.

“We’re so sorry, we must’ve missed it. How are we to cross this lake, then?” The man looked pleased that Phil was actually listening to his bullshit. “Ferry comes every twenty minutes.” “All right, and what may that cost?” Phil said, civil as ever. “’S free. You fellas can take your Alicorns with you, but no animals bigger than that.” Because we’d obviously been hiding a ten foot magical gummy bear somewhere…

I didn’t dare go against the man, in fear he wouldn’t let me into the village, but I hoped he wasn’t the brightest lightbulb around here, or this would be a very tiring couple of days. The ferry took only a handful of minutes to arrive, and Phil and I quietly conversed for a while, feeling awkward surrounded by this company. The men were all pretending to be busy, whilst watching us like hawks. It wasn’t that predatory though, more like we were very amusing. The few women among them only sighed as they took care of their Alicorns.

Phil and I boarded the ferry, immediately noticing it was magical. There was no one steering it, nor was there any kind of mechanism to move the boat. I’d never been on a magical boat before, but this one seemed at least relatively safe. It was quite slow though, so I settled down at the prow of the ship, patting the space next to me for Phil to sit down.

After a minute or two, I noticed we were going even slower than when we started. When I voiced my concern to Phil, he frowned and looked around the boat. “You’re right, but there’s no way to hurry this thing up.” It was then I heard it, a voice, coming from the water. It was beautiful, something between a person singing, a violin and a harp.

“That… That’s astonishing.” Phil said, and I could only nod in agreement. The singing made me slightly dizzy, like I’d been hanging out on a roller coaster for way too long. I then saw the figure who was singing. It was a mermaid, its face covered in scales. I couldn’t quite make out if it had a gender, but that didn’t matter; it was beautiful in any case.

The merperson looked confused, like it didn’t understand our reaction. Did it not realize how beautiful it sounded? Phil and I basked in the hums for as long as it lasted, because eventually we did reach the edge of the lake. We got off the boat, only to be greeted with the stares of several young women.

“Jeez, it didn’t work?” One of them exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air in frustration. “Mutual love, it’s literally the _one thing_ we have not yet found a solution to…” Another said. The women started to walk away, loudly discussing how annoying we were. All but one, slightly older, who smiled at us with kindness.

“Hello, gentlemen! My name is Meorthe. Congratulations, you just completed the third trial of your quest.” My eyebrows shot up as I took the woman in. “Seriously? But we didn’t do anything?” I said. The woman laughed, in a way that made me realize she thought us to be, like, cute or something. “You weren’t swayed by our siren. Which is an achievement in its own.        Please follow me, I’ll take you to the plant.”

I looked at Phil, silently asking him if we could trust this woman, but Phil was pale as a ghost. “Are you okay?” Phil just sort of nodded and followed Meorthe. I shrugged, figuring I’d ask him later. Meorthe led us to a small container, and handed it to us. “Here you go! You two are welcome to stay here a little longer. I happen to know that there’s a visitor coming for you in a minute.” She smiled.

“Wait, what? Who?” I asked, but Meorthe just giggled and walked away. I looked at Phil, who was all too busy with studying the plant. “Phil? What is going on? Do you know something?” I asked, confused. Phil swallowed, looking at me in earnest. “I know why we succeeded so easily. I think…” He said. I gave him an encouraging gesture, beckoning him to continue.

Phil sighed shakily. “Mutual love.” He said it like it was a question. “What about it?” I started to say, but I realized before I’d really gotten the words out. Oh. Us. Phil looked at me intensely, probably waiting for my reaction. “Why...” I started, but my voice sort of gave out. I cleared my throat, coughing awkwardly.

“Why didn’t you say so?” I asked, apprehensively. Phil’s head shot up at that. “Are you kidding me? You literally kiss me and then completely ignore that and you ask me why _I_ didn’t say something?” Phil said, his voice louder with every syllable. “What!? I never kissed you!” I said, furrowing my brows. Phil looked ready to slap me, but then realisation spread across his face.

“You don’t remember?” He said, tentatively. “You were drunker than I was, but I didn’t think…” He continued, stepping closer to me. I swallowed. Had we kissed the night we set free the _Pentasenumbra_? I barely remembered anything from that night, and I knew my drunken self had less boundaries than my usual self.

“Phil.” I mumbled, stepping closer to him as well, until our noses almost touched. Did this mean he loved me? That I loved him? That we had a chance? There was barely any space between us, and suddenly there was none. I don’t know who closed the gap, but I did know what happened next. I may not have remembered our actual first kiss, but this one… It was amazing.

We broke apart, to gaze into each other’s eyes for a while. Wow. I’d always known Phil’s eyes were beautiful, but why had I never noticed they were like a million colours? How could one iris contain so many tints of blue, grey, yellow and green? I smiled at him, and then noticed he wore a smile probably similar to mine, a 1000 watt smile that felt like the sun was erupting from his face.

I opened my mouth, unsure whether I should tell him or kiss him again. I got no chance to do either though, because Jess took that moment to appear from the bushes. “Well hello, my favourite boys! What are you up to?” She asked, her voice happy despite the obvious tiredness in it. Phil and I both immediately stepped away from each other, pretending nothing was happening.

“Nothing! Why? Hi!” Phil blurted, and I almost giggled at his poor attempt at casual speech. I turned to look at Jess, and took a sharp breath when I did. Her skin was pale, with blue patches all over. Her hair was greasy, and her eyes had sunken deeply in their sockets.

“Jess? Are you okay?” I asked, worried as hell. Jess put on a semi-confident smile, opening her mouth to say something, when Meorthe appeared behind her, a stern look on her face. “No she’s not. And I will take her to a healer right away to fix her.” She turned to Jess, her face pleading. “Jess, I told you when you were here for your quest, you need to heal. We’ll do it for free, I promise it’ll only help you.”

Jess squinted her eyes a little. “I know Meorthe, but I’ve told you before. I do not wish to be healed!” My eyes went as big as teacups at her words. She was ill, and apparently seriously so, but did not want to receive free healing? Meorthe’s voice was unyielding when she spoke next. “You will not even live until tomorrow. You will not have enough time for whatever it is you’re planning.”

Jess went still at that, shooting a worried glance our way and then sighing. “Fine, I give in. You may take me to your healer.” Meorthe smiled as she scooped Jess up in her arms, oddly enough without any complaints from the latter. She smiled at us. “I’ll explain as soon as we reach the village centre. Please, follow me.”

I was too stunned to do anything but comply. So Phil and I followed her deeper and deeper into the village, until we found a small house covered in ivy and flowers. Meorthe told us to wait, and we did, sitting outside on a little bench until she came out again a few moments later. “Our healer, Misses Jerald, will have her patched up in a few hours.”

I smiled, ineffably relieved that she would be okay. “Thank you for making her accept this, we had little to no idea she was this ill!” Phil said, seemingly wanting to convince both Meorthe and himself. “I know, Philip. Nobody can blame you for this. Jess was irresponsible, forgetting her health to ensure she could continue her quest. I do not understand her hurry.”

“If I may, could I ask you about that? Her quest? We don’t actually know what she’s been doing.” I asked, trying to sound polite. Meorthe smiled sadly, sitting down on the ground in front of us. “I’ll tell you, but only because I know Jess probably won’t. Before I tell you though, there’s something you should know about her.”

Meorthe shuffled, as if to make sure she was sitting comfortably. She sounded serious, but hopeful somehow, like this wasn’t terrible news about to be given. “Jess is a very complicated creature. She’s never been good with her emotions, even though she has so many of them.” A tentative smile. “She’s so passionate! Once she sets her mind on something, there’s no stopping her.” I smiled, too, figuring this to be an accurate description of my friend.

“I just want you two to know that even though Jess disappears a lot, is secretive and doesn’t talk about her affections a lot, she loves you dearly. I am a seer, you know. I have a certain wisdom about these things. Just understand that even though she didn’t tell you this, it wasn’t because she didn’t trust you.” I acknowledged her words, but couldn’t do more than that, too anxious to know what was going on with Jess.

“Jess was taught the history of the hobgoblins just like everyone else like her, but she was the only one who was desperate to change things. She decided to start a journey, to every house in the Wilder Wood, convincing people to take back Brownies as cleaners and housekeepers. Her journey so far hasn’t been very successful and a lot of her friends didn’t approve, so she’s had to sacrifice a lot.

“Lately she’s been working so feverishly, I knew something had to be wrong. She passed our village for her quest, which is when I met her. You see, the only way I’d known so much about her was through visions. Now that I’d met her, I realized she was ill. But that wasn’t why she was so hurried. I offered her treatment, about a week ago, but she refused.” A tear slipped down Meorthe’s cheek. She cared so deeply, about someone she’d mostly known from visions.

“Anyway, I fear she’ll stop at nothing to see the Hobgoblin honour restored, but it wouldn’t surprise me if that’d take several lifetimes.” I nodded. “There’s only so much you can do if people don’t care enough to help.” The look in Meorthe’s eyes sharpened, and she looked almost guilty. “Yes, which brings me to something else.”

She turned to Phil, worry evident in her eyes. “Your father passed through here when he was exiled.” Phil didn’t say anything at first, didn’t show any emotion. He just stared Meorthe down. I wondered for a moment if I should ask Meorthe about the story she was evidently willing to tell, but decided against it. This was Phil’s decision, he could ask for it, or choose to not know at all.

Phil was silent for a bit longer, until he cleared his throat and nodded. “Tell me about it. Please.” He said quietly. Meorthe nodded and took a deep breath. She frowned in concentration, seeking a good way to start the story. She then pursed her lips and began speaking.

“I had visions about your father. Your mother and you, too. That happens sometimes, that I get visualisations of people I’m supposed to meet later in life. I got to know your father through them. He was a passionate person, very loving and loveable. His one true passion was politics, and especially those of your community.

“As I’m sure you know, he had many ideas about reforms in your community. Unfortunately, his parents didn’t give him the option to be in politics professionally, so he had to resort to pamphlets and speeches at the local market.” I remembered that, Phil’s dad standing at the marketplace, one or two people watching as he avidly ranted about modifications to the current political system.

“Nobody listened to him, besides your mother. It was so frustrating for him, knowing he had the right ideas but not the right position to change things. One night, he couldn’t take it anymore and… He lashed out at the one person who’d been there for him.” Meorthe looked up at Phil, watching as his eyes filled with tears. She swallowed and continued sensibly.

“Your mother was in the hospital for a long time, wasn’t she?” Meorthe asked, her voice more like a quiet whisper. Phil nodded, tears now really falling from his eyes. I put my arm around him, and Phil took a shaky breath. Meorthe, too, looked sorrowful, but she went on nevertheless, her voice calmer than her features revealed her to be.

“I met your father after he was exiled, not realising who he was. I’d never actually seen his face in my visions, so it was months after I discovered who he was. I was disgusted. I’d seen everything he did to your mother as if I was the one doing it. It’s never stopped haunting me since.” I felt sorry for the young woman sitting in front of us. She’d been a victim in this, and I understood her quiet rage.

“I decided to take matters in my own hands, a decision I regret to this day. I’d gotten to know your father as a good man living in this village as a refuge, and when I found out the truth, I went mad. I put a spell on him, so that he could never find a home until he understood the need for a healthy balance between passion and reality.”

Phil took a sharp breath, and then sighed. “Whatever. You had the right to do that, I don’t care.” I knew Phil was lying, he always cared, and so I took his hand and squeezed it. Meorthe frowned. “You do care. I know that as well as I know my village, which is quite well. I just want you to know that the spell will wear off. He will find a home, whether he was to wait years for it or months.”

Phil nodded, not quite hiding the fact he was pleased to hear his father would be okay. “Thank you for telling me this, it is nice to know. I just don’t understand why.” Meorthe tilted her head in confusion, so Phil elaborated. “Why are you telling me this? It’s not like it changes anything.” Meorthe shook her head, choosing her words carefully.

“No, I suppose it doesn’t. I just wanted you to understand something. The two of you were able to skip this town’s story, but I want you to know the moral of it anyway. Were you to do this the ‘usual’ way, you’d have discovered the Sirens are hired by an ancient sorceress, whose powers were taken away by our king. She wants to beckon his children closer to her, to kidnap them. Her actions may be devious, but she herself is a good person. Do you see where I’m getting at?”

Phil didn’t answer, so I did. “Phil’s father wasn’t a bad person, even though he did some bad things. He deserved punishment, but also forgiveness.” Phil looked at me, both anger and understanding flashing in his eyes, but he remained quiet. “Phil, Daniel is right. Your father deserves to be forgiven, because of the good man that he is. And who better to forgive him than his only son?”

“I’m not sure I want to.” Phil said, his voice quiet and broken. “I understand. I cannot guarantee you that you’ll ever see your dad again, actually I think you won’t. But I have high hopes that my spell will weaken faster if his first home were to forgive him.” Meorthe said, standing up. She put her hand on Phil’s shoulder for a moment, and then went inside the healers’ house.

As Meorthe was long gone before Phil spoke next, I knew his next words weren’t for her, but more for himself. “Then I will try.”

Phil and I sat there, at that little bench, for at least two more hours. Phil sat quietly, thinking, as did I. We sat so close our shoulders where touching and I felt the warmth of his arm through my sweater. Mutual love. We loved each other, we’d even kissed! And yet I had absolutely no idea if this meant we were together.

It’s not like there’s some guidebook on relationships, that’d perfectly explain the situation we were in. We were, apparently, both in love, but did that mean we’d be in love forever? Did that mean we were supposed to be together? Could love just mean close friendship? I should just ask Phil about his thoughts on the matter.

I’d just started working up the nerve, not even remotely close to actually saying something, when the healer’s door opened and Jess walked out. I stood up immediately, and found her to be completely healthy, or at least on the outside. Her brown skin had a golden glow, her eyes sparkled and her face showed no sign of illness or tiredness.

“She’s healed.” Meorthe said, walking out behind Jess. She nodded at us in goodbye as she walked off into the village. Jess looked at us through her eyelashes. “Hi boys.” She said, guiltily. I wanted to shout at her, tell her how stupid she’d been, risking her life like that when healing would’ve given her way more time to work on her quest.

But Phil pulled us both in for a hug, and we sat in a little hurdle on the ground as all my fuming thoughts were washed away with a feeling of relief. She was okay, she was safe, my friend would live. “You idiot!” I said, not completely wanting to let her forget her stupidity, but there was no venom in my words, as I said them with a smile.

Jess smiled too, tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry boys.” Phil took her hand in his, and squeezed a little. “Just don’t leave us anymore, okay? At least stay until we’ve finished our quest, and we’ll help you with yours.” Jess’ face fell at that, and for a moment there was an unbelievable amount of sadness in her features. They were gone in a blink of an eye, making me think I’d imagined it.

“Of course. Promise you’ll help me?” She said, smiling sheepishly. I laughed, taking her other hand. “We promise.” Jess looked determined as she spoke next. “Well then, off to town number four?”

 

Jess wouldn’t reveal us what the nature of this town would be, no matter how many times we asked. She just shook her head laughing, seemingly in a better mood than I’d even seen her. “Boys, could you just shut up for a moment? I’m trying to navigate.” She said, pretending to be busy looking at the stars.

“Screw you Jess, it’s daytime!” Phil laughed. Jess giggled and led Sashay toward a thick patch of trees. “It should be behind these trees.” We walked past them and, indeed, there was a village. From the looks of it, this one was the smallest yet. It was just a few houses, ten at the most. The villagers we saw wore red capes, already a signal of what fairy-tale-like story we were to encounter here.

The village was by no means appealing, I might even go as far as to say it was the least beautiful village I’d ever seen. The villagers wore timeworn clothes, apart from their shiny capes. Their shoes were filled with holes, and that was only those of them who had them. Poverty seemed to be reeling from this place, and I felt instantly sorry for them.

“Why are these people so poor?” Phil asked Jess curiously. Jess sighed. “I’m sure they’ll tell you soon enough.” And surely, we hadn’t even really entered the town when a man walked up to us, waving his beaten-down sword dangerously through the air. “Good day, travellers! I’m sorry I can’t be more welcoming, but I have to ask you to either leave as soon as possible or stay within the safe circle the houses provide. Please decide soon! We don’t have much time.”

I was so surprised, I couldn’t quickly form any words to tell the man we’d rather stay, or to ask what the fuck was happening, but Phil luckily could. “We’d like to stay the night, if that’s possible. We have our own tents.” The man nodded, beckoning us to follow him. “What is going on, sir?” Phil asked as soon as we reached the little patch of houses.

“There’s wolves, young one.” The man said eerily, looking around him. “Every night, the wolves come near our town. Every day at sundown, they come and stalk around our houses. They eat our livestock, a few sheep or a cow every now and then. But soon, they won’t be coming anymore, I tell you!” The man said passionately.

“Why? Are they migrating?” I asked, and the man raised his eyebrow at me. “We’re hunting them. They won’t bother us anymore! We’ve already slain three of them in the past week.” The man looked us over, apparently finding what he saw pleasing. “How would you two boys like to help us out tonight?”

I shuddered at the thought. “No thank you sir, we’re not exactly equipped for such acts, I’m afraid.” Phil tried to say politely, but the man was having none of it. “Well we have weapons and armour to spare! There not the best ones, but they do their job.” The man started walking toward one of the houses, so I decided to intervene as soon as possible. “No, really, sir. We’d rather not participate.”

The man looked at me as if I’d just snapped the neck of his favourite chicken, so I quickly continued. “I get scared easily. And violence isn’t really our thing anyway.” The man nodded sternly. “All right then. Are your tents magical? If not, I’d suggest you sleep in the stable, as the wolves will surely tear through them.” I looked at Jess, unsure. She just raised an eyebrow. “Do you think us amateurs? The tents will hold.” The man laughed approvingly and nodded at us as he walked away.

“So they’re just going to kill the wolves? That’s rather rude isn’t it?” Phil said, concerned. “Yeah, I guess. But if this is really Red Riding Hood, the wolves must be evil or something.” I said, not quite knowing what to say. Phil had a point, of course. The wolves didn’t appear to be magical, there was no reason to think they had something against these people. They just needed to eat. But that was not how the story went, unfortunately.

“Yeah, while you two are going to discuss morals and poor little wolves, I’m going to set up the tents and go to sleep. I won’t be able to fall asleep with wolves growling around me, so I’d rather be asleep already, or at least in my tent, when they arrive. I suggest you follow my lead.” Jess said. There was no venom in her words, but I knew she meant what she said. I bowed my head dramatically. “Your wish is my command, my lady.”

Jess laughed and pushed me, and together with Phil we made quick work of the tents. Phil and I decided to walk around the village a little before bedtime, as we were yet to be really tired. Just behind the house that was the furthest away from our tent, was a little clearing in the woods. A woman stood there, quietly weeping at what seemed to be a large rock. As I came closer, though, I noticed it was not a mere rock. It was a tombstone.

The woman noticed us and hurried to excuse herself. “I’m sorry, this is no time to grieve. We are to kill the beasts who did this, I should rejoice!” Phil smiled compassionately at her. “You are allowed to grieve, ma’am. May I ask who you lost? If it isn’t too invasive?” The woman smiled sadly. “My daughter. She was only four years old. I shouldn’t have let her play in the forest on her own.” The woman wailed softly, walking away from us with her hand covering her mouth. 

Phil and I stood there for a few minutes, silently paying our respects to the little girl that lay in that damned grave. She shouldn’t have died, she should’ve been safely at home right now, playing with her mother. As neither Phil nor I felt like doing anything now, we both went to our respective tents to sleep.

I was ready to change into my night clothes, as Phil entered my tent, sitting down next to me on my sleeping bag. “Hi? I mean hi, hello.” I said awkwardly. Phil smiled and he bumped his shoulder against mine. “It’s just me Dan, don’t worry.” Which, obviously, did nothing to calm my nerves.

“So, I need to tell you something.” Phil said, and my heart already exploded. I could only imagine what he was going to say. He didn’t really love me, he didn’t want a relationship, he only saw me as a friend, he was going to tell me he already liked someone else. “It’s about Jess and Alex.” Phil said and I was relieved for like two seconds before succumbing to worry again. “What about them?”

Phil sighed, and I could tell by his features that something was majorly wrong. “Remember what Alex said about going to find the other ingredients needed to contain the _Pentasenumbra_?” I nodded, and Phil continued in a hushed voice. “I didn’t tell you this, but when you were on a walk, a few days ago, Alex came back to camp.” I was about to ask Phil why he didn’t tell me, but Phil suddenly took a shaky breath and a tear rolled down his cheek.

“Hey, it’s okay! It’s all right!” I said, putting one arm around him. I brushed his cheek with my other hand, wiping away the tear gently. Phil smiled a little, through his tears. “Alex didn’t come into camp at first, but I heard them talk to someone, so I walked over to greet them. I then heard Jess and someone I didn’t know, they all sounded pretty upset so I figured I should stay back. When I was about to walk away, I heard one of them mutter something and then they all gasped. They were completely silent for a moment until they all started talking through each other.

“I didn’t understand what was going on at all, so I just headed back before they could discover me. Alex came by only to ensure that everything was right, and when she left, someone came to visit me. I recognised her from my book; she was a Limonead, a nymph protector of meadows. She came to tell me of what she’d encountered with Alex and Jess. Dan, one of them saw a Banshee.”

I looked at Phil’s frightened expression, but the title didn’t mean anything to me. “A what now?” Phil sighed, exasperated. “We learned this in class! A Banshee is an appearance of an old woman. It foretells death.” My eyes went wide. “And Jess and Alex saw her?” Phil shook his head, but frowned and nodded immediately after.

“They both saw her, but only one of them was able to hear the Shriek. This sound can only be heard by the one that is to die. The Limonead wouldn’t tell me which one though.” “But one of them is going to die? Do you know when, can we stop it?” I said worriedly, anxiously fidgeting with my hands, cracking my knuckles. “That’s the thing.” Phil said, his voice barely a whisper. “I looked up some information about these plants, this mission. My book holds more than just information about creatures, it also explained what to do with the plants we’re gathering.”

Phil stood up and walked around in my little tent. He stood with his back to me, and then turned around, rubbing his temples. He looked me in the eyes and slid his hands to his neck. “To create a magical lock out of the plants, we need to throw them into the sea where the Ancient Myth Pricus lives. But that’s not all.” Phil’s voice broke a little at that. I stood beside him, wrapping my arms around him and stroking his back until he continued.

“We need a soul to willingly sacrifice themselves, or Pricus will not forge the lock. I think either Jess or Alex is going to sacrifice themselves.” All colour drained from my face, and I was glad I was holding Phil, because I don’t think I would’ve been able to stand without him steadying me. “We can’t let this happen.” I said, refusing to fully believe it. “What do you know about Pricus, can’t we ask him to make an exception?”

“Pricus was created by Chronos, the god of time, and he has the same time-bending powers his creator does. He is half goat, half fish. I know that doesn’t make sense, but apparently it isn’t supposed to, really. His sea-goat children loved the beach, and eventually turned to living there, growing hind legs and losing their fishtails.

“Humans treated the creatures we’ve come to know as goats like they were mere animals, not descendants of a god. So after time passed, that’s what they became. Pricus resented the humans for it, but no matter how many times he turned back time, his descendants’ destiny did not alter. He begged Chronos to kill him, but the latter instead chose to turn Pricus into a constellation. Pricus now only comes to his hidden sea in exchange for a human life, for he still despises our sort.”

Phil pulled back a little and looked at me through his tears. “There is no way we can defy him and live to see the _Pentasenumbra_ captured. Someone has to die.” Shouts and growling were suddenly heard from outside, and just in time, too, as I was about to burst into a fit of ugly crying that would ruin my chances with Phil forever.

Before I knew it, Phil was out of the tent, right into the circle of houses were the wolves probably were right now. Out of the tent, into the danger. I grabbed my Katana from its box and ran outside, easily spotting Phil not ten feet from a huge wolf, bigger than I’d thought possible. It was growling at him, whilst a few of his comrades were facing the villagers.

Phil stood frozen, eyes pinned to the ground. The wolf stopped growling, and tilted its head. And that should’ve been my first indication. But it wasn’t, and I didn’t notice the second in time either. The wolf carefully walked backwards, looking to escape, not attack. Had I noticed these signs, I’d have done something else, but unfortunately my first reaction was to run forward and slash at it with my Katana. To protect Phil.

Now, I’d practiced quite a lot with my weapon and to be honest, I’d gotten good. So you understand it only took me one rightly placed slash to cut into the wolf’s leg. It yelped loudly, retreating on its three healthy legs and crying to his pack to leave with him. They were gone before I could think about what I’d done.

I turned around to see Phil, his eyes wide with shock. Quickly, the villagers ran over to us. “Nice work!” “Can I see your weapon?” “Why didn’t you finish it? You could’ve easily gone after him with his leg like that!” All these people were starting to crowd me, so I took Phil’s hand and brought him back to my tent, noticing Jess in the crowd. Because of her size, it was easy for her to follow us, and fortunately the villagers respected our privacy enough for them to stay out.

“What the heck Dan? Why did you hurt it?” Phil yelled, completely indignant. I bit my lip, feeling guilty of my actions. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to! I just saw you in front of that animal, and I just had to protect you!” Phil went absolutely rigid. It was weird, I’d been friends with him forever, but I’d never seen him this angry. I mean, he was right, but he had to understand where I was coming from, right?

“I am not some damsel in distress! I was fine, the wolf wasn’t even close to attacking me! You’ve hurt an innocent animal, just because you decided to be the glorious prince!” Phil walked back and forth in my tent, and Jess just stood by and watched. When I didn’t say anything, she raised one eyebrow at me and left the tent, facing the muttering of the villagers outside.

“I know you’re not a damsel in distress, Phil.” I said, but Phil only glared at me. I sighed, combing my hair with my hand anxiously. “What I mean is, I know I acted without assessing the situation, and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I should’ve known you were in control of the situation. “I just-“ I said and my voice failed me. Phil looked up, a frown on his face that I couldn’t decide was because of worry or because of anger.

“I don’t want to see you get hurt.” I said, my voice breaking just a little. Whatever happened, Phil had to be safe. I had to make sure of that, I could not let him walk into a dangerous situation and hurt himself. Phil tilted his head a little, tears in his still all-too-angry face. “Why do you care?” I looked up, so astonished by his words I didn’t answer at first.

“ _Why do you care?”_ Phil said, obviously frustrated. I took a step back, and breathed in slowly. “You know I care about you.” I said. “But in what way? How much? Why do you care if I get hurt every now and then, we’re just friends?” Although his words hurt me, I could tell he was just trying to figure this out. Like I was. So I took a moment to think, before answering his questions.

“In a way that is described in stories, cliché as that may be. In a way that makes me want to spend my life with you, no matter in what way, but preferably… Preferably romantically, if you’d want that too. I guess I care about you in a way that I’d do anything for you, always. I guess that answers your other questions too.” Most of the anger in Phil’s face drained away, and his eyes widened as he blushed.

“I know we’re just friends and I know that moving toward a romantic relationship, if desired, is going to be a struggle. I guess I’m really used to hiding these sorts of feelings from you, so that’d probably make me close up in moments you’d want me to express myself. But if you want this, I’m willing to try.”

Phil didn’t answer. He turned around, hands in his hair, and didn’t say a thing for at least a minute. Now, a minute may be a predetermined unit, but I swear this one lasted a lifetime, at the very least. A million doubts swam through my head, but I was done with them. If Phil didn’t want this, then so be it. Always doubting and staying quiet was just painful. I realised it had been hurting me for a long time now. I wouldn’t succumb to it anymore.

Phil turned around, dropping his hands to his sides. There were tears in his eyes, but they didn’t seem to be falling. He took a step toward me, and another. In a flash, he was right in front of me, one hand on my cheek, one on my back, pulling me toward him. In that same flash, Phil was kissing me. But it took a little longer for it to really sink into me what this meant. I actually didn’t fully comprehend it until Phil pulled back and awkwardly smiled at me. “I’d like that. The romantic thing, I mean.”

A smile appeared on my face, bigger than any smile I’d sported before. He beamed at me, and I couldn’t resist pulling him in again. Mind you, it was a pretty innocent kiss. I’d never fully kissed someone before Phil, and so I was a little afraid, but Phil opened his mouth, letting my tongue in and oh my. It was a little awkward, if I’m being honest, but it also was… It was magical.

 

We exited the tent a few moments later, to let Jess know we were okay, and were faced with about ten villagers still standing near our tent, the smiles on their faces obvious, even though it was getting dark outside. “Uhm, did you hear everything?” Phil asked, blushing. The villagers nodded and one woman smiled kindly at us. “That was so cute!” “Awkward…” I mumbled under my breath.

“Nonsense.” The woman laughed. “We could all do with a little more love around here.” Phil squinted his eyes. “Yes, about that. Why can’t you just leave these wolves be?” The woman looked up in indignation. “They attack our village! They hurt our children!” “Yes,” Phil interrupted. “But they don’t have anything against you personally. This is just their hunting area, and your sheep are easy prey. You should learn to live in harmony with the wolves, not hunt them!”

“But how will we protect our village, then?” A man asked confused. I smiled at him. “Wolves are afraid of fire. You could conger a magical fire, that’ll scare the wolves away at night so they’ll hunt elsewhere. Besides, you should accept the wolves as fellow inhabitants of the Wood, and realise they’re not going to hurt you if you’re not easy prey.”

I saw a few villagers nod enthusiastically, talking amongst themselves. Apparently they weren’t so keen on the bloodlust they were exhibiting before. “We’ll try that, thank you.” The man said. He snapped his fingers at a man standing beside him and that man walked away, only to come back with a plant. The last plant. I looked at Phil, who was staring at it with disgust. Still, he took the plant and pretended to be grateful.

We said goodbye to the villagers, deciding not to bother to stay the night here. With pain in my heart, I informed Jess of the plant, and she, too, pretended to be happy. I just stared at her, but I doubt she noticed, busy as she was to compose herself. “We ought to inform Alex of this.” Phil said, and I saw Jess stiffen. Phil had gathered all the plants in one sack, and Jess was eyeing them, probably wanting to make a break with them.

Actually, she wasn’t the only one who wanted that. The sack floated out of Phil’s hand, seemingly on its own accord. Before anyone could react, Alex ran out of the Wood, catching the plants mid-air. They must’ve been spying on us! They had Sashay and Cavort tied together and jumped on Sashay’s back, looking at us for a moment with tears in their eyes before flying away at an amazing speed.

“Where is she going? We need to go there too!” I said, panicking. Alex was planning to sacrifice themselves! I couldn’t let that happen to them, they were pretty much like a friend, I couldn’t let them die. “To the Sea in the Wood.” Phil said. “I know a shortcut that Alex doesn’t.”

“How do you know that’ll be faster? And why isn’t Alex using that shortcut?” Jess said, serious and straight to the point. “I know because of the book Alex gave me. She didn’t read it, or else she would’ve used the shortcut.” Phil said, and he got the book out of his tent. He opened it to a page with a dog-ear. I saw intricate patterns on there, along with some sort of spell that seemed really complicated.

Phil spoke the words on the page carefully, making sure to pronounce everything correctly. He held one hand up, the palm of it pointing forward. As soon as he’d spoken the spell, a weird shimmer fell over a patch of air. It wasn’t exactly like there was something different, the background hadn’t changed, but it was obvious that there was something there.

“Phil? Is this a portal?” I asked, having read about them that one time I actually bothered to do something at school. They were supposed to be really hard to make, and that was only if you were lucky enough to find a spell. For Phil to be able to make one… He was an even better enchanter than I’d already thought him to be.

Phil didn’t reply, just stepped through the portal and disappeared, much to the surprise to the villagers watching. I contemplated asking Jess to stay behind, to avoid her plan, but she’d passed through before I could even open my mouth. I sighed, stepping through it as well. It was a very odd experience. I didn’t feel anything, to be honest. One moment I was in the village, and the next I was on a small beach next to what looked to be a lake, but was probably a sea.

“How long before Alex arrives?” I asked Phil. He was standing with his back to me, but turned around to close up the portal once I spoke. “Any moment now. Although it didn’t feel like it, time did pause when we passed the portal.” And surely, not a minute later Alex came out of the woods, pretty much falling from Sashay’s back.

They looked surprised to see us, but they didn’t react to it. Phil clicked his fingers, and the plants flew out of Alex’ hands and onto the sand in front of us. “Please just let me do this.” Alex said. Jess walked up to them, shaking her head softly. “Why should it be you?” Phil asked.

“Well, one of us has to go into the sea.” Alex said, frowning. “I just wanted to save… I wanted to save all of you.” “Yeah, but it doesn’t have to be you!” Phil said. “Phil.” Alex sighed. “Someone has to die. I’m not going to let it be any of you.” “You didn’t even do anything wrong! It should be me!” Phil said, and my heart broke into a million pieces.

“No!” Tears had filled my eyes before I had fully gotten the word out. “No. It’s supposed to be me.” When Phil opened his mouth to contradict me, I silenced him by holding up my hand. “Jess has her quest. Alex and you are two of the most powerful enchanters this world has ever seen. Me, however… I am expandable. I have nothing important in my future, and we can deny that, or we can use it.”

Phil took in a sharp breath, walking over to me to put his hand on my cheek. “Do you even know how wrong you are? I mean, obviously you don’t.” He pulled me closer, so that our foreheads were touching. I saw Alex look at us with a small smile on their face, oddly enough not surprised to see Phil and I like this. “Dan, look at me.” Phil said, and I did. And boi was I glad I did.

Phil’s face up close was amazing. I’d seen it a million times, but with both us so emotional, everything seemed so much more beautiful. “I love you.” Phil said, kissing my nose. “Just because you don’t know what you’re going to do with your life, doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth anything. You’ll find something you like, I promise, and you are going to excel at it, just like you do with everything you set your mind to.”

I swallowed away the lump in my throat, trying to take in what Phil had said. I guess he had a point, but it was hard for me to believe that I’d find something I’d like to do. It could take years, and by that time I’d have wasted precious time that I could’ve spent doing something useful. Nevertheless, if I were to live through this, I ought to try, in honour of whoever didn’t make it out today.

“Okay.” I said. “But we have to decide, fair and square, who is to sacrifice themselves.” Phil nodded, a grim expression on his face. I looked at Alex, who also nodded their approval. Then I looked for Jess. She’d been standing right next to Alex, but now… I turned around faster than the speed of light, only to find Jess running toward the water with the plants in her hands.

“Jess!” I screamed, taking a few shaky steps toward the water before being pulled back by Alex. “Don’t go in the water or Pricus will take you both!” They said, their voice as shaky as I supposed mine sounded. “But… But she’s going to _die_!” I muttered.

Phil came to stand next to me, tears streaming down his face. “Be strong for her, Dan. She’s made her choice. Regardless of our personal aversion of it, we ought to respect it.” Alex said, pain seeping through every word. Suddenly, every sound around us was gone. There was no wind, no noise, no nothing. I found it was harder to move. It was like… Like time stood almost still.

It was fully dark now, and when I looked up, I saw the stars were out. Jess had taught me to spot constellations, but I didn’t need to think back on that to know which constellation was Pricus’. It was glowing brightly, and continued to enhance its brilliance with every passing moment, until the light erupting from it was so bright, I had to look down and cover my eyes.

Only a flash later the light disappeared. There, on the little beach, lay Jess, lifeless, a large lock next to her head. 

 

 

 

Her funeral was on a Friday.  
I remember this vividly, because a lot happened on the Fridays that followed. It was a simple gathering, an attempt at celebrating her life, instead of mourning it. Still, it left me in pieces. It’s a common magical tradition that funerals are colourful and bright, not gloomy. Jess’ funeral was no exception, and yet it was.

There were only a handful of people, most of whom hadn’t actually seen Jess in months. There was no food, or coffee or tea after the ceremony. There were merely a few words of grief, uttered by someone I supposed was a priest of kinds. And then the guests had a chance to say goodbye. Some went up to her grave. Most didn’t. No one spoke.

Jess hadn’t been around for a really long while, some friend of hers explained. She’d been so caught up in her quest that she rarely visited. In the past few years, when her illness got worse (I guess no one knew she had gotten better), the only person she regularly visited was Alex. I bit my tongue, refusing the words on in my mouth to spill out. _If YOU’D shown support for Jess’ quest, Alex wouldn’t have been the only one_.

It was the Friday after her funeral that Jess’ tombstone arrived and her grave was finished. They’d used magic to grow the grass and flowers rapidly, covering the little patch of ground in no time. Phil used some of his magic to make sure the flowers would be preserved. I didn’t have a lot of magic, and I didn’t know a lot of spells, but I’m sure the tears that flowed from my eyes would help the plants prosper.

Another Friday later, Phil and I finally returned to our village, ghosts of who we had been before. We’d sent the lock two weeks ago, and we’d received word that the _Pentasenumbra_ had been captured. It was also that Friday I heard my father had passed away of a sudden heart attack. His cremation was three days later.

It was on a Friday that I realised that this sadness would forever linger. It held my head in a death grip, but I was starting to get loose. I would never be truly free, but I had to fight, it’s what both my father and my friend would’ve wanted. And so I got out of bed, day after day. I was there when a new fourth leader was elected. I applauded when the rules regarding our social structure were abolished, a fake but somehow genuine smile on my face.

It wasn’t a Friday when I went on my first therapy visit, but I’m counting it because it wouldn’t have happened without the Fridays of my past. I told my therapist, a stranger, everything I felt. How much I had resented my father, but loved him nevertheless. My mother didn’t know, I would never tell her, but with every passing day, I felt myself freer than I’d ever been when he was alive.

I guess that makes me a terrible person, does it not? I come so close to hating a person that was ripped from his life so harshly. Yet that is not how I feel, like he was ripped away from mine. Jess was ripped away. Alex hadn’t contacted me, so they were ripped away in a way. Phil and I now wore ripped hearts in our chests. But my father wasn’t ripped, he was just gone.

Oddly enough, it was also a Friday, many months later, when I noticed everything started to get better. The reforms in our community were starting to pay off. People were happier than ever, free to choose what they wanted from life. Slowly, we started to integrate with the ‘normal’ world. They didn’t know our secret, but we didn’t care. They didn’t need to know.

The real reason this Friday was particularly good, though, was because Phil strode into my house that day, holding something in his left hand. It was a bottle of whiskey, an engagement ring on the bottom of it. “We are going to drink this shit, even though that is exactly what it tastes like. We’re going to take our fucking time doing it, years probably because we’re not going to resort to alcoholism to cope with this mess.”

I looked up at him smirking, one eyebrow raised. “And while we’re waiting for this goddamn bottle to empty, we are going to finish Jess’ quest.” Phil said, sheer determination shimmering in his eyes. I took a shaky breath, my eyes darting from the ring to Phil’s face and back. I nodded.

 

Life would forever be filled with holes, but isn’t everybody’s life a little ripped? We’ve all lost people, whether by choice or not, by death or coincidence. We’ve all got reasons to throw in the towel, but we’ve all got reasons to continue, too.

I had Phil, my friends, my mother and after a few visits and phone calls, I could probably add Alex to my little list. Jess, too, was a reason. To continue. So I walked up to Phil to kiss him on his cheek. And then on his lips. Phil pulled me closer, and I felt it then. We’d get through this, together.  Phil would become a vet, magical or no. I’d take a year off to figure out what I wanted, and then we’d build our future together.

I giggled, taking the bottle from Phil and holding it upside down to try to get the ring out. “Nah-uh! No peeking!” “Phil this bottle is transparent, I can literally see the ring right now!” Phil just kissed me, taking the bottle back. “Someday, Dan, Someday.” I smiled at him.  
“I love that we have a someday.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all so much for reading this! I’ve been working on this for a (probably way too) long time lol
> 
> Also quick thanks to my amazing girlfriend (I love you) for letting me rant to her about how I wanted this story (and the ending) to be neither heartless or cheesy, I hope I’ve at least sort of managed that haha
> 
> If you have any questions or suggestions, please leave a comment :)


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